Shakespeare Youth Festival
Shakespeare Schools Festival and The Lowry
Shakespeare Youth Festival
The Lowry, Mon 3 – Fri 7 March 2008
Press Night: Mon 3 March, 7pm
Ten youth groups from across the North West will shake up Shakespeare at The Lowry from Mon 3 March. As part of the Shakespeare Youth Festival over one hundred young people have been given the opportunity to set up a theatre company to stage, direct, design and perform an abridged Shakespeare play, benefiting from mentoring at The Lowry.
The companies of 16-19 year olds will each perform a forty-five minute version of Shakespeare’s classics, such as As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night and Julius Caesar. Since September 2007 The Lowry have supported each of the groups through director workshops, marketing workshops and technical workshops, delivered by staff at the venue. A social networking Facebook site has been set up, which is regularly updated with advice and new information. Formal Education Manager, Caroline Barker, who co-ordinated the project said, “Shakespeare Youth Festival has given the Community and Education team at The Lowry the wonderful opportunity to work with motivated young people from across the North West. It’s been lovely to see such enthusiasm and talent, and we’re really looking forward to the shows, which are going to be great!”
Sharon Noon is Music and Drama teacher at Chatsworth High School in Eccles, a school for young people with learning disabilities. She has helped So Strong Theatre Company, an ensemble of eager drama enthusiasts from the school, with directing their production of The Tempest. She says “This has been a fantastic experience for the cast of twelve, who all have severe learning difficulties. Exploring the drama through rehearsals and workshops has helped the group to build their personal confidence. Most importantly it has provided them with an opportunity to work in the community, at The Lowry and at a recording studio where they have created a soundtrack of dialogue for the production, which is fundamental to their development.”
Josh Hanlon is a familiar face at The Lowry, having performed in several productions including DNA with the National Youth Theatre, has written two plays that have previously been performed as part of the annual Easter Bites showcase at The Lowry. Josh is independently running and directing Pendleton Youth Shakespeare’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The Shakespeare Youth Festival has partnered The Lowry, along with thirty-three other professional theatres across the UK, in this exciting new arts project. Each Theatre Company will perform a matinee and evening show of their abridged play, alongside another group’s production, totaling twenty performances over five days. Audiences can expect romance, blood, lust and laughs!
All of the participating youth theatre companies have been invited to Liverpool in July 2008 to feature in Shakespeare in the City as part of the Liverpool Capital of Culture celebrations. This will be a week long celebration of performances, workshops and related activities in venues throughout the city.
Posted on Tuesday, 12 February 2008 under Press Theatre Press