Check out Jamie Brown's daily blog from last week, when he and fellow associate artist Kat Glenn performed and workshopped Shakespeare for over 800 young people in Tyne and Wear.

Monday 24 May

5 days, 10 performances, 7 workshops, 6 question-and-answer sessions, a Hollywood event, flash-mobbing, a poetry slam, and a play-in-a-day ... phew!

What looked to be quite a daunting week on paper got off to a great start as we were welcomed into Whitley Bay High School with open arms! After an early morning performance of The Course of True Love to keep us on our toes, we spent the rest of the day workshopping the specific scene between Beatrice and Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing. It’s amazing what lengths some people will go to to obtain an old straw hat!  The Year 10 students used everything from persuasion to mockery, wit and even outright violence (which was in jest, but promptly stopped!) in order to gain the upper hand, and in doing so hopefully gained a better understanding of the point-scoring tactics available to Beatrice and Benedick within the play. Throughout the three workshop sessions, the students’ eagerness to be involved really made it a pleasure to be part of and paved the way for what we hoped would be a great week.

Tuesday 25 May



Waking with one or two aches and pains from the previous day reminded me exactly how much energy playing eight of Shakespeare’s lovers in one hour can take out of you! Still, today would be made up of two performances of True Love followed by A Midsummer Night’s Dream workshops for the Year 4 students from some of the local feeder schools. I was dubious about whether we could sustain the attention of a younger audience for an hour-long Shakespeare performance, but was pleasantly surprised throughout both performances to see that the audience were rapt. Afterwards, it was also clear that they were not simply being polite, as many seemed to understand quite vividly what was happening in each scene; if not through the text, then certainly through the action that was taking place.  The workshops were also a huge success: at such a young age the children seemed to have no inhibitions or self-consciousness as they transformed into animals and spirits in order to re-enact the scene between Titania and Bottom which we were focussing on. We included some rhythm work in order to make the lines more memorable and it was a huge pleasure to hear them being quoted and sung even as they left the school at the end of the day. 



Wednesday 26 May 



Marathon time! Four gruelling shows in four hour-long sessions in front of Year 9 was the order of the day.  In many schools staff warn you that “Year 9 can be tricky” or “Watch out for Year 9” and Whitley Bay High School is no different.  I knew that it would be a change compared to the free-spirited Year 4 students of Tuesday to have hundreds of self-aware Year 9 students settling down for an hour of Shakespeare. However, unlike a lot of shows, the pace The Course of True Love as well as the nature of the scenes within it, seems to maintain the audience interest. No sooner have Beatrice and Benedick finished their war of words, but Hamlet’s fiery affection for Ophelia is displayed, then Bottom promptly begins making an ass of himself. There’s little opportunity to get bored and doze off, even for the most unwilling 13/14-year-old. The shows were great, and during The Taming of the Shrew we even received cheers and boos when one character scored a point over another - as though Kate and Petruchio had suddenly been transported onto The Jeremy Kyle Show! Who said Shakespeare has no relevance today? Overall, a rewarding (if not very tiring) day!



Thursday 27 May


Ever been in Maths or Science and thought, “I wish that a six-foot donkey would just walk into the class and take over the lesson”? Well, that’s exactly what happened today, as we went from classroom to classroom at Valley Gardens Middle School to perform short punchy snippets of various scenes completely unannounced! Although the teachers were in on the plan, the students couldn’t have been more surprised – and sat back in awe as we delivered what would be a very intriguing and memorable first contact with Shakespeare for many of the students. Full credit to the school for coming up with the idea – there was a real buzz around the halls throughout the rest of the morning as the children swapped stories about their impromptu introductions to The Bard. In the afternoon we followed-up with a full performance of The Course of True Love for the Year 8 students, along with a workshop on Romeo and Juliet with some of their Gifted and Talented students. During the performance the hall was filled with murmurs as students recognised the snippets from scenes with which we had so rudely interrupted their algebra and biology studies; it was a great success.



Friday 28 May



Our final day in Whitley Bay kicked-off with a performance for three of the local feeder schools, followed by a Romeo and Juliet workshop. The students were very keen and it made for a pleasurable end to a pleasurable week of performances in residency at the school. For the remainder of the day, we had the privilege of being guest judges of the school’s Play in a Day competition being run by the Library. We took the guise of three “stern” judges focussing upon three central elements of each production – mine being motivation throughout the performances. The plays were great, if not a little whacky: I never thought I’d see the day where a wizard, a porta-loo, and the shop Lidl would share the same stage! The success of the afternoon, and in many respects of the whole week, was definitely down to the effort and enthusiasm of the staff which was then duly reflected by the students. A special mention should go to the staff within the school Library, whose open-door policy and tireless efforts in staging events (such as the Hollywood event on Tuesday and the poetry slam on Wednesday) make it the hub of the entire school, more-so than in any other school I’ve visited. The Whitley Bay High School Literature Festival is a brilliant idea which bridges the gap between both age and social groups, and it was a pleasure for myself, on behalf of 1623 theatre company, to have contributed to the success of the week as a whole.