Shakespeare's Half Hours

Performing

There is strong perception among secondary students that studying Shakespeare marks a kind of 'rite of passage' into a world of more adult learning. Far from being resistant to these plays, students often greet them with enthusiasm. This places a heavy responsibility on teachers because their students' early experience of Shakespeare is likely to be formative, and the chances of any disappointment arising from an uninspiring first taste translating into lasting antipathy is strong. On a more positive note, working with Shakespeare with younger students at a time when they are free of formal examination constraints can be highly rewarding. This is rich material that stretches students and can prompt rich responses from them.

The Shakespeare's Half Hours programme is a celebration of the plays in performance and as such it is in harmony with several important tenets of teaching Shakespeare in schools. These are that:

• Shakespeare wrote plays and not books. These are scripts to be explored through drama and not consigned to the conventional and dreary read-round-the-class approach;
• through performing (and learning) Shakespeare, students can quickly overcome any barriers presented by the language, gaining instead a profound and enriching 'ownership' of the words and the stories;
• Shakespeare benefits from as playful, irreverent and imaginative a treatment as teachers and students can devise. By having fun with the language and experimenting with the dramatic situations, students can gain a purchase on these plays which more formal explorations may deny them;
• there is nothing like having to enact a scene to bring home its impact and inject meaning into the language. The more experience of practical work on scripts students have under their belts, the better placed they will be to deal with GCSE and A-level stipulations that analysis of Shakespeare and other playwrights demonstrates an understanding of dramatic impact and interpretation.

In addition, the Shakespeare's Half Hours programme is a celebration of what can be achieved in a very brief space of time and illustrates the team-building benefits that accrue from students having a real performance to work towards.

The notes that follow are an attempt to deepen and extend the viewer's understanding of the processes on show. The beauty of it is that all the drama techniques can be replicated beyond the formal structure of the Shakespeare School Drama Festival.