Interview

Today i contacted a young director at the RSC in Stratford-Upon-Avon. i wanted to speak to somebody who had done workshops with young children just to gage their response. It was quite hard getting hold of someone, but once i did they were very cooperative. It was only a 10 minute interview as the summer season is very busy in Stratford which is fair enough.

Below are the questions and the answers:

Hello, my names Robyn Russell, i am currently studying at the Leeds College of Art and i am doing a research project on Shakespeare, more specifically the educational side. I have been involved in a variety of plays from a young age and i wanted to speak to somebody that has worked with children and Shakespeare.

- hello Robyn, i will answer as much as i can (laughing)

Okay, Firstly what made you get involved in doing workshops with kids?

- Well i started out just generally performing and we had some kids involved in some of the plays. i found their response to the works of Shakespeare fascinating. They were so engaged with the story, to them it was like one big fantasy world, and using a different dialect seemed to make it all the more special. People say children can't understand Shakespeare's Language, but until you get them reciting and acting out his plays you don't know how truly capable they are.

So from then on i decided to get involved with the workshops and help bring more kids into the fantasy world.

Brilliant, i remember it having a similar effect for me too. What sort of things do you do in the workshops?

- Well, it varies really on age group. We simplify the plays down to the key parts for the younger children. This means they are still getting the whole story but its less complicated and therefore more enjoyable. With regards to the older children we get them to perform large extracts from the plays, this way they are fully involved with the plays but get to perform the most exciting parts and remain engaged. We always take a few days to get them dressed up in the typical costumes so that they can truly experience the roles. This is one of my favorite parts because you get such a different buzz from them when they are fully in character to just messing around with the words in the studios.

That sounds like fun, i'm sure you get a great response from them! Would you say there are benefits of learning Shakespeare's language from a young age?

- Oh defiantly! I have seen kids grow from the age of 7 up to 18 and leave and the way they hold themselves completely changes over that time. By learning Shakespeare, their vocabulary immediately improves. By performing his plays they become more confident with themselves and their use of language. Its interesting to see how responsive they actually are, because what they learn from us i.e the fundamental interaction skills in groups, the confidence of performing and reciting, they ease of creating a character, these are all skills that they can adapt and take on later in life. This is the same with anything a child performs, but more specifically with Shakespeare, they earn a respect for the writing and the english language as well as understanding part of or countries great history. Those are things you just cant learn from performing in a Pantomime for example.

Thank you so much for answering all my questions, i realise you're very busy. But you have been extremely helpful and its good to get a professionals opinion on this. Thanks again.

- Not a problem, if you need anything else answering please don't hesitate to call. Bye

Bye.