PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release

01/10/2015

From School to Stage: 35,000 Schoolchildren to Perform Shakespeare in the World’s Largest Youth Drama Festival!

“I had never really read any Shakespeare before – I had heard of some of his plays like Romeo and Juliet but I never knew how amazing a writer he really is.” - Sarah, Year 10, played Lady Macbeth in the 2014 Festival at Strule Arts Centre, Northern Ireland

“I will remember coming on stage and seeing my Mum screaming and clapping because she loved it.”– Lucy, Year 4, East Preston Junior School, Littlehampton

The 15th annual Shakespeare Schools Festival (charity number: 1087596) opens on Monday October 12th 2015. Over six weeks, 35,000 young people will take to a professional stage and perform the works of the UK’s greatest playwright in front of a live audience in the biggest Shakespeare celebration of the year.

  • The 2015 Shakespeare Schools Festival cast features 35,000 schoolchildrenfrom 1,150 schools:487 Primary Schools, 571 Secondary Schools and 92 Special Educational Needs Schools
  • From Southampton to Inverness, from Londonderry to Norwich, schools from 417 towns across the length and breadth of the UK will take part
  • 320 Festival Nights will take place over six weeks at 138 theatres with up to 25 performances happening simultaneously on any one evening

Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF)challenges, supports and inspires young people of all ages, abilities and backgroundsby providing them and their teachers with everything they need to transform into a fully-fledged theatre company with the courage, confidence and capability to perform a Shakespearean play.The charity trains teachers to direct and stage their own Shakespeare productionsvia a unique combination of specially abridged 30 minute scripts, resources, workshops, and by partnering the 1,000+ schools with their local theatre. Each Festival night will see four schools a night perform a different half-hour Shakespeare play in their local professional theatre, contributing over 1,000 fresh interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays and demonstrating the universal and enduring appeal of the Bard.

For SSF’s Creative Director, Dominic Fitch, the charity fulfils a vital role inreinvigorating conventional methods for teaching Shakespeare and encouraging a lifelong appreciation of the UK’s greatest playwright:

“Shakespeare provides young people with a unique resource of powerful, relevant stories about what it means to be human.In the UK most children discover Shakespeare for the first time at school. It’s imperative to us and central to our creative ethos that a young person’s first encounter of Shakespeare is through performance, not a page, and that it is adventurous, ambitious and fun.”

At a fundraising event earlier in the year SSF Patron Sir Nicholas Hytneroutlined how taking part in the Festival helps young people build vital life skills:

“The Festival insists that all participants acknowledge that it is not easy to do Shakespeare, that it’s worth working very hard to make his story sing, and that the rewards are infinite.The children come out with all sorts of demonstrable benefits. They communicate better. They know better how to work as a group. They empathise better with their peers and with those who might otherwise be strange to them.”
Last year over 65,000 people attended a Festival night. All box office profits go towards enabling the charity to take even more young people on this magical journey. Members of the public can support the creative expression and achievements of young people in their community by attending their local show - full listings and details of how to book tickets can be found at

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For further information, please contact:

Madeline Voke
Marketing & PR Manager | |020 7601 1930

Ellie Grace
Development Manager | | 020 7601 1819

Notes to Editors

1. Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF) is a non-competitive youth drama festival.

2. SSF is for everybody, working with secondary schools, primary schools and special schools throughout the UK. The charity specifically targets disadvantaged schools, using Shakespeare’s language to impart articulacy, confidence and team-work while providing the occasion for young people to believe in themselves and to be supported by family and friends.

3. SSF piloted with just 8 schools and 200 pupils fourteen years ago. This year SSF is working with 35,000 young people from over 1000 schools.

4. SSF is a registered charity and relies on the support of trusts, foundations and donations to provide subsidised registration for participating schools.

5. SSF receives Arts Council Wales support.

6. A full media pack can be found at Photo opportunities are available at performances nationwide. Ruth Brock, SSF Chief Executive, and Dominic Fitch, SSF Creative Director, are available for interview and comment.

SSF Directors

Chief Executive Ruth Brock

Founder Chris Grace

Creative DirectorDominic Fitch

SSF Patrons

Jenny Agutter Dame Judi Dench Jamila Gavin

Sir Nicholas Hytner Kwame Kwei-Armah Francesca Martinez

Philip Pullman Lord Puttnam Michael Rosen

Kevin Spacey Sir Tom Stoppard Dame Harriet Walter

Sir Arnold Wesker Ralph Fiennes

Matthew RhysSimon Russell-Beale

SSF Trustees

Dame Jenny Abramsky

Andrew Jackson

Annita Bennett

Geraint Talfan Davies

Anna Mallett

Dame Alison Peacock

Oliver Rawlins