The Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF) charity is the UK’s largest youth drama festival. Schools who participate perform half hour abridged versions of Shakespeare's plays in local, professional theatres all over the United Kingdom. Since its inception in 2000 it has worked with 4,842 'teacher directors' and 100,000 young people. 1000 schools (25,000 young people) will take part in the 2013 Festival in 120 theatres across the UK.
SSF aims to engage children through an active way of learning. The charity strives to bridge "the attainment gap" by boosting articulacy and confidence, as well as imparting key employability skills such as teamwork, peer leadership and critical thinking. In preparing and performing the plays participants also learn about Shakespeare's language, themes and characters.
All schools are able to take part in the festival, and the charity actively targets disadvantaged schools and teachers who feel that their pupils cannot do Shakespeare. After a pilot scheme in 2011, SSF now works with primary schools, with 7 new scripts specially abridged for younger participants. 179 primary schools took part in the 2012 Festival, alongside special schools and secondary schools. Five international groups paid to take part in the 2012 UK Festival, covering all their own travel and accommodation costs.
SSF is partnered with the Central School of Speech and Drama, who support workshops for the young casts participating.
Shakespeare Schools Festival is a charity supported by numerous trusts and foundations and individual donors. The largest corporate sponsor is Telereal Trillium. SSF's central office is currently housed at Telereal Trillium HQ at Bastion House, 140 London Wall, City of London.
The festival was featured recently on BBC Breakfast on Saturday 13 October 2012.
Read more about Shakespeare Schools Festival: Directors and Trustees, Patrons
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“Graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let ‘em forth
By my so potent art. But this rough magic
I here abjure.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The shrewd guess, the fertile hypothesis, the courageous leap to a tentative conclusion—these are the most valuable coin of the thinker at work. But in most schools guessing is heavily penalized and is associated somehow with laziness.”
—Jerome S. Bruner (b. 1915)
“Don’t you know there are 200 temperance women in this county who control 200 votes. Why does a woman work for temperance? Because she’s tired of liftin’ that besotted mate of hers off the floor every Saturday night and puttin’ him on the sofa so he won’t catch cold. Tonight we’re for temperance. Help yourself to them cloves and chew them, chew them hard. We’re goin’ to that festival tonight smelling like a hot mince pie.”
—Laurence Stallings (1894–1968)