SHAKESPEARE RESOURCES
Lighting fires
William Shakespeare
“A fool thinks himself to be
Shakespeare unleashed
wise, but a wise man knows
himself to be a fool.”
“And oftentimes excusing of
a fault doth make the fault
conventional academic curriculum properly. “Active
the worse by the excuse.”
learning can change their lives,” Ms O’Hanlon continues,
telling me about a group of underachieving students the
RSC worked with who responded extremely well to
“Be not afraid of greatness:
active work on King Lear, not least because they loved
being treated as sensible, able learners rather than being some are born great, some
patronised.
At present the RSC works, one way or another,
achieve greatness, and some
with 30,000 young people and 2,500 teachers (via
CPD activities) a year – quite an achievement. “But
have greatness thrust upon
it’s nowhere near enough,” Ms O’Hanlon believes,
them.”
“because there are about 10 million young people in the
UK and, at present, we are not reaching most of them.”
Ms O’Hanlon and her colleagues, a team of whom
“Love all, trust a few, do
wrote the toolkit, are hoping that this ground breaking
new resource will help to redress that imbalance by wrong to none.”
enabling teachers all over the country to use active
Shakespeare-related work with pupils, even if they are
hundreds of miles form Stratford and cannot access “How poor are they that have
face-to-face outreach work.
Part of the challenge is to imbue teachers, who may
not patience! What wound did
themselves be wary of Shakespeare, with confidence.
I have read the toolkit and think it certainly has the
ever heal but by degrees?”
potential to do what it says on the tin. Perhaps 2010
will be the year when Shakespeare really does begin to
come alive in our classrooms.
“It is not in the stars to hold
SecEd
our destiny but in ourselves.”
• Susan Elkin, a freelance journalist, taught secondary
English for many years. She is education and training
editor at The Stage.
“Better three hours too soon
Further information
than a minute too late.”
• The Globe: www.shakespearesglobe.org/
globeeducation/
• The Globe’s interactive Macbeth resource: www. “How far that little candle
playingshakespeare.com
• Open Air Theatre: www.openairtheatre.org
throws its beams! So shines
• The National Theatre: www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/
discover
a good deed in a naughty
• The RSC: www.rsc.org.uk/learning
world.”
• The RSC Shakespeare Toolkit for Teachers: www.
rsc.org.uk/toolkitforteachers
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to offer Macbeth-related, in-school workshops during photocopiable, comes with an accompanying CD-
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June and July. ROM of adaptable material, and costs £45.
The National Theatre has an extensive programme The publication is, effectively, a practical guide to
of production–related education programmes the RSC’s much publicised Shakespeare Manifesto
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too, although, of course, its work is not limited to (“do it on your feet, see it live, and start it earlier”) and
Shakespeare. One of its best Shakespeare schemes is draws together the strands of all the RSC’s other wide-
“Primary Classics”, although I think it is a pity that ranging work with young people, such as its project for
they see this series of pared down versions for children, youngsters on the at-risk register in Warwickshire and
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expertly abridged and directed by Carl Heap, as the its work with looked after-children in Telford.
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I caught last year’s marvellous Macbeth during an active approach to teaching Shakespeare in the
its short run in the Cottesloe Theatre and watched it classroom – inspired by the RSC’s work in the
in the company of a riveted key stage 3 group from rehearsal room which is really only another sort of
Hertfordshire. In the past, the plays have been Pericles, classroom.
Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Each of the three main chapters takes a different
For 2010 it is Twelfth Night which tours to schools in approach to working actively with Shakespeare’s plays,
the spring and plays for a short run in the Cottesloe. using a specific play as an exemplar (but every single
Like Open Air Theatre, National Theatre and suggestion could be adapted for use with any play).
Shakespeare’s Globe, the RSC has embarked on a The section on Macbeth goes through the narrative
series of abridged plays for young audiences with step-by-step with each lesson designed to animate key
accompanying education packages. This year, it is moments in the action. The work on Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet (following the success of last year’s Comedy offers a “pick and mix” selection of active lessons
of Errors in partnership with the theatre company, Told and the A Midsummer Night’s Dream activities stress
by an Idiot) reworked and directed by Tarrell Alvin a visual, auditory and kinaesthetic approach to the
McCraney, the RSC’s playwright-in-residence. unfamiliar world that the play inhabits.
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Hamlet will tour to outer London schools during “We have used three plays which teachers are most
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2010. The actors are part of the RSC’s ensemble, 12 likely to choose as examples in the hope that they will
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of whom now hold the RSC’s post-graduate award in then have the confidence to apply the methods to plays
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the teaching of Shakespeare (run in collaboration with which are taught less often,” Ms O’Hanlon continued,
University of Warwick), and it is these people who lead
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explaining that in its teacher training sessions, the RSC
the related workshops. For a week in September, the tries to pair one such play with, say, Othello or The
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Courtyard Theatre in Stratford will showcase the work Merchant of Venice.
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devised by young people in connection with Comedy of What I like most about this toolkit is that it is all
Errors and Hamlet. about active learning and yet there is a great deal of
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And the RSC’s Learning and Performance Network focus on language and there is not a hint of dumbing
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works with 120 secondary schools (and around 180 down – although everything is accessible.
8
primaries) nationwide every year culminating in regional “Yes, we are striving hard to get across the message
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festivals in March. “Effectively this is RSC education that active learning is part of intellectual rigour not an
on the road,” Ms O’Hanlon continued, reeling off the alternative to it,” Ms O’Hanlon agreed, pointing out
corners of the UK that the company has penetrated. that everything which goes on in an RSC rehearsal Ag8iZkmg^klabi8pbma
For 2010, however, the real jewel in the RSC’s room is active, but that it is all underpinned by high
education crown is its first ever book: The RSC level thinking and understanding.
Shakespeare Toolkit for Teachers was published last She mentions kinaesthetic learners several times
week by Methuen Drama. It has over 300 pages – students who fail in many schools and often develop
of detailed, imaginative teaching ideas, all fully behaviour problems because they cannot access the
SecEd • January 28 2010 9
08-09 Confis.indd 9 25/1/10 10:14:01
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