Pupils’ summer Shakespeare spectacular

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Six borough schools staged a production of Hamlet during a summer drama school.

The 45-minute version of the play, using Shakespeare’s original text, was directed and produced by professional theatre company Dramarama and funded by the council’s Excellence in Cities programme for ‘gifted and talented’ pupils.

Fifteen children, aged 10 to 13, took to the stage of the London Oratory School theatre, in Fulham, on Friday (20 August) for an audience of parents and relatives, staff, governors, headteachers and other guests.

The production was put together in a week with the part of Hamlet split between two pupils to share the demands of the central role. They were Klaudio Dema, 12, from Henry Compton School, and Kem Ekumdayo, 13, from Fulham Cross School. The other schools taking part were Burlington Danes secondary and Fulham, Melcombe and Sir John Lillie primaries.

The set featured an ethereal white backdrop and the cast all wore white – apart from the two Hamlets, who dressed in black.

Cherrille Stanway, the council’s Excellence in Cities co-ordinator, said: “This is the second year of the EiC and Dramarama summer school and the second year that the London Oratory School has provided us with their fantastic theatre. None of the children were familiar with the play before they started so they have done really well to put together such an impressive production in only a week, with the professional support of Dramarama. The primary school pupils who took part are all going to secondary school in September and the summer school gave them a chance to mix with local secondary pupils and prepare for moving on.”

Dramarama, run by Phillip Gates and his co-artistic director Kate Allerston, are working with the council to produce a two-night series of shortened Shakespeare plays by local schools at the Lyric Hammersmith. Shakespeare Live will be staged at 7pm on 17 and 18 November, with tickets available from the Lyric next month.

Cllr David Williams, deputy for education, said: “Participation in arts subjects and events helps pupils to develop their confidence, which has an important impact on their all-round achievement. The gifted and talented programme of Excellence in Cities is giving pupils in all our schools the chance to expand their horizons and explore their creativity by enabling them to take part in exciting projects such as this. I would like to thank Dramarama for their highly skilled input and the London Oratory School for the use of their theatre. The Lyric Hammersmith are also giving us wonderful support in enabling us to stage Shakespeare Live there in November.”

Excellence in Cities is a government-funded education programme, designed to address the particular challenges facing children and teachers in urban areas. The council’s EiC team works in partnership with schools to provide extra creative and academic opportunities for ‘gifted and talented’ pupils. Money from EiC has also enabled the council to provide state-of-the-art computer facilities for all schools and the community at the Kingwood City Learning Centre, in Fulham. as well as funding learning mentors, who work alongside teachers to support underachieving students.

August 29, 2004