After a highly successful start at the
Artscape and Baxter Theatres in April and May, 2018, the Shakespeare School
Festival (SSF), now in its 8th year, continues to roll out nationally. The second
leg of the festival kicked off in Grahamstown in August and will end in
Bloemfontein in October, making an appearance in Durban from September 4 to 9
at the Playhouse.
The Shakespeare Schools Festival South
Africa (SSFSA) is an education programme aimed at improving language and social
skills through the Performing Arts. It is Educape’s flagship initiative that
was launched in 2010 by Kseniya Filinova-Bruton with the objective of
strengthening the link between the arts and education. Since inception, the
SSFSA has grown from an event that attracted a mere 20 learners to a project
drawing more than 2,000 youth across the Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal
and the Eastern Cape. Internationally, the initiative kicked off for the first
time in Russia earlier this year.
Staging a Shakespeare play in a
professional theatre is a challenge for young learners, one that they clearly
relish, and the SSFSA is an ideal way for youngsters to explore their acting
prowess and theatrical potential in a fun, developmental way, simultaneously
making their theatre debuts on professional stages in a non-competitive
environment. The SSFSA is fully interactive and provides guidance and the
resources through the writing of scripts, training, staging, technical,
rehearsals and the post-production feedback that equips learners and educators to
successfully direct and perform their Shakespearean plays from the delivery of
the first line to the final bow.
Participating schools prepare and perform
30-minute abridged versions of the Shakespearean plays, using creative and
artistic license to produce some of the most innovative amateur dramatic work
ever seen on local stages. Ground breaking performances thus far have come from
the De La Bat School for the Deaf with their moving version of Romeo and Juliet in South African sign
language (SASL) and the Pioneer School for the blind and visually impaired.
Special Needs Schools participating in other provinces include the Adelaide
Tambo School in Soweto and the Elandspark School.
Says Festival Managing and Creative
Director Kseniya Filinova-Bruton: “Year after year it’s been incredible to see
the amazing, creative interpretations of Shakespeare’s works by learners.
Mastering the skill to perform the Bard's plays is no mean feat - if you can
conquer Shakespeare, you can overcome many other challenges - all that’s needed
is enthusiasm!”
Performances run at the Playhouse in Durban
from September 4 to 9, 2018, and are open to the public. For more detailed
venue and booking information, email info@educape.co.za
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