Making much ado about Shakespeare

DARK and brooding . . . Breeze Hill’s atmospheric production of “King Lear” Picture: ANTHONY MILLER

YOUNG Oldham actors will take centre stage when they bring the Bard bang up to date.
Four of the borough’s schools are performing at the Dancehouse Theatre, Manchester, as part of the Shakespeare Schools Festival.

The annual event is the biggest youth drama festival in the UK and 10,000 11 to 16-year-olds from 500 schools will tread the boards.

They will stage half-hour versions of Shakespeare’s most famous works in professional theatres around the country — with full technical support.

North Chadderton School will start at the Dancehouse with “Twelfth Night” on Monday while Kaskenmoor pupils are hoping to conjure up a storm with “The Tempest” on Tuesday.

Then Breeze Hill and Crompton House will stage “King Lear” on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

Breeze Hill’s production has an Orwellian theme with the actors dressed in white and red to represent good and evil.

It grew from improvisation workshops and drama teacher Catherine Goulding said: “The pupils are very excited and it’s their first experience of working in a theatre. We are taking a coachload of people to see it.”

Pupil Farhan Shahid (14), who plays King Lear, added: “I am looking forward to meeting new people and performing in front of hundreds.”

The five most popular plays in this year’s festival are “The Tempest”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Much Ado About Nothing”, “Macbeth” and “Romeo and Juliet”.