Globe Education will return to Hong Kong following the success of the Shakespeare4All Festival launched this year 21 June 2012 Globe Education looks forward to returning to Hong Kong following the success of the Shakespeare4All (S4A) Learning and Participation Festival, the first event of its kind, launched this year. Globe Education practitioners tailored workshops for teachers and over 300 students, aged seven and up from schools across Hong Kong, who performed a number of Shakespeare’s plays including: Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew. Globe Education’s support gave primary and secondary school students participating in the festival the opportunity to take part in bespoke workshops before showcasing what they had learnt on stage for other students. Meanwhile, their teachers received training in practical approaches to teaching Shakespeare, as well as in textual analysis and voice coaching.
Globe Education Practitioner, Emily Pollet, described how the students participating in the S4A festival benefitted from their experiences, “I was very impressed by this ambitious event. The children were able to articulate, in varying levels of English, their understanding of the play, their lines, performance techniques, rehearsal etiquette and character. The diversity of the schools was particularly encouraging. For some English is their third or even fourth language! It is amazing how much they achieved in such a short space of time.” Patrick Spottiswoode, Director, Globe Education, commented, “Education is at the heart of Shakespeare’s Globe. By reaching out to young students, we aim to foster a life-long passion for Shakespearean drama. This year, we were proud to collaborate with the S4A Drama Club Outreach Programme to pioneer the Learning & Participation Festival 2011-2012, the first total Shakespeare drama and learning showcase for primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. We are delighted by its success and look forward to returning to work with S4A again in the next academic year.” The project adds to Globe Education’s already extensive programme working with organisations across the UK and around the world, in countries including Beirut, Cyprus, Germany, Italy and the United States. Globe Education Practitioners work with students using active learning techniques to
explore Shakespeare’s language, stories and characters, employing many of the same techniques as actors and directors in the rehearsal room. The benefits of the work extend well beyond the classroom, developing skills that are fully transferable to other contexts. Students of all ages learn about practical discovery and enquiry, individual and ensemble work and the impact of behaviour, as well as improving their communication and listening skills. Globe Education’s outreach work takes place alongside its learning programmes onsite at the theatre. Each day during term-time, up to 600 students visit the Globe to tour the auditorium and take part in a drama-based workshop tailored to their individual needs.
ENDS Further information and images from Eleanor Lovegrove at Shakespeare’s Globe Press Office on +44 (0)20 7902 1468, eleanor.l@shakespearesglobe.com
Notes to Editors
Globe Education is one of the largest arts education departments in the UK. Each year, more than 100,000 people of all ages and nationalities participate in Globe Education's programme of public events, workshops and courses. Globe Education also runs an extensive programme in its Southwark community and creates national and international outreach projects for students and teachers. For more information, visit www.shakespearesglobe.com/education Shakespeare’s Globe on film: The highly successful 2010 productions of Henry VIII and The Merry Wives of Windsor are now available on DVD from the Globe Shop, and will be available across the UK and internationally from July. DVDs of the award-winning productions of Henry IV, parts 1 and 2 are now on sale internationally and in the Globe Shop, and will be available st across the UK 1 August. The Shakespeare Globe Trust is a registered charity No.266916. The Globe receives no public subsidy. Shakespeare4All was founded in 2003 by educationalist and theatre director Dr Vicki Ooi. It works to enrich young peoples’ understanding of theatre by providing access to quality Shakespearean drama in English. S4A has so far worked with 800 students from a diverse range of schools to produce eight full-length Shakespeare productions in English, including Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Romeo & Juliet. A further 5000 students have taken part in S4A’s programme of high-quality drama classes. For more information, visit http://s4a.org.hk/news_en.htm