Shakespeare Symposium: An exploration of the place and purpose
of Shakespeare in primary and secondary education today
Friday November 4th 2016: 10am - 4pm
Collingwood Centre, Rugby School, CV22 5EH
Programme for the Day
9.30am
Registration and Coffee at the Collingwood Centre, Rugby School
10am
Welcome from Peter Green, Head Master, Rugby School
10.10am
Panel Discussion: Shakespeare and his relevance within educational best
practice in 2016
With pressure on curriculum time and resources, the panel will consider case
studies from a range of educational institutions in terms of their relationship with
Shakespeare and its impact on their staff and students both within the ‘classroom’
and beyond.
Followed by a Question and Answer session.
Panellists:
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Jacqui O’Hanlon, Director of Education at the Royal Shakespeare Company
Leigh Wolmorans, Headteacher Lings Primary School
Mark Gregory, Principal, Ark St Albans Academy
Andrew Chessell, Artistic Director, Rugby School
11am
In conversation with: Alexandra Gilbreath
RSC Associate Artist Alexandra Gilbreath currently appearing in Aphra Behn’s The
Rover in the Swan Theatre, will be joining us to discuss her career, learning to break
the rules and her belief in the transformational power of Shakespeare’s language.
11.50am
Coffee break and Delegates photo in the Collingwood Hall
12.15pm
Lecture: Tracy Irish
RSC Education Associate Practitioner and PhD student Tracy Irish will share her
research findings about the richness and power of Shakespeare’s language and how
its unique construction impacts on us as listeners and audiences.
1.15pm
Lunch
2pm – 3.30pm CPD: Practical Workshops
Workshop 1 (Primary) & 2 (Secondary)
RSC workshops for primary and secondary school teachers
The RSC will offer two practical 90 minute workshops, one for primary teachers and
one focusing on KS3-KS4 needs. These CPD sessions will introduce participants to
RSC approaches to teaching Shakespeare all inspired by the way our actors and
directors work in the rehearsal room. RSC approaches to text can make
Shakespeare's plays accessible and enjoyable for students of all ages. The work can
also be applied to other complex texts in English and Literacy lessons.
Workshop 3
The Harmonious Sisters: A practical guide to Voice and Verse in
Shakespeare
James Oxley will lead a skills workshop in Voice and Verse. This session, full of
practical advice on approaching text, will reveal how he approaches work with a
professional company at the beginning of a rehearsal process. It will draw in part on
his experience of working at Shakespeare’s Globe to assist in the productions of
Richard III and Twelfth Night as Voice Coach, in which capacity he worked with Mark
Rylance, Stephen Fry and Roger Lloyd Pack.
Workshop 4
Fight Arranger
If you are feeling energetic or have a production coming up in which you need to
stage a fight or battle scene, then this is the workshop for you. Terry King, who has
worked extensively as a fight arranger at all the major theatre companies in Britain,
as well as many operas, musicals, west end shows and on television will offer
practical advice on how to stage those epic Shakespearean battles safely.
His credits at the Royal Shakespeare Company include: Coriolanus; Julius Caesar;
Macbeth; Othello; Romeo and Juliet; As You Like It; Henry VI parts 1,2&3; Henry IV
parts 1&2; Hamlet. Pericles; Dunsinane; Cymbeline; Richard II and Richard III.
3.30pm
Plenary in the Collingwood Hall
3.45-4pm
The Symposium ends.
Fight Arranger
BIOGRAPHIES
JACQUI O’HANLON
Director of Education
Royal Shakespeare Company
Jacqui joined the RSC in 2003 and has been Director of Education since 2008. She is
responsible for the strategic direction and management of the Education Department. Prior
to working at the RSC, Jacqui was a freelance theatre practitioner and actor working in a
variety of theatres and arts organisations as well as primary and secondary schools across
the country. During her time at the RSC she has launched Stand Up for Shakespeare, a
manifesto for Shakespeare in schools which calls for children and young people to See It
live; Start it Earlier and Do Shakespeare on their feet. Jacqui also established the RSC’s
Learning and Performance Network and initiated the company’s Schools’ Broadcast series
which has reached 120,000 young people to date. She developed and edited the RSC
Shakespeare Toolkit for Teachers, which has been distributed to every state-maintainted
primary and secondary school in England and brings the work of RSC rehearsal rooms to life
in classrooms around the country. She has led on developing major education partnerships
nationally and internationally with broadcasters, universities and theatres. Most recently
Jacqui has been editing the RSC’s new Schools Shakespeare series with Oxford University
Press.
TRACY IRISH is a practitioner, writer and researcher, specialising in active approaches to
Shakespeare for education and has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company since
2007. Tracy is an experienced teacher of English and drama in UK and international
contexts and develops work with students and teachers from primary to postgraduate levels.
She is particularly interested in the physicality of Shakespeare’s language and his
intercultural appeal. She has an MA in Shakespeare Studies from The Shakespeare
Institute, University of Birmingham and is currently writing up a PhD through the University of
Warwick on the value of using theatre based practice in teaching Shakespeare.
TERRY KING has worked extensively as a fight arranger at all the major theatre companies
in Britain as well as many operas, musicals, west end shows and television.
CREDITS INCLUDE: Royal Shakespeare Company Coriolanus. Julius Caesar. Macbeth.
Othello. Romeo and Juliet. As You Like It. Henry VI parts 1,2&3. Henry IV parts 1&2.
Hamlet. Pericles. Cymbeline. Richard II. Richard III. National Theatre. His Dark
Materials.The Murderers. Fool For Love. Edmond. The Duchess of Malfi. King Lear. Elminas
Kitchen. Scenes From the Big Picture. The White Guard. Three Winters. Henry V. Other
Porgy and Bess (Glyndbourne) Othello (WNO) Carmen (ENO) Don Carlos (ROH) Billy Elliot
the musical. Oliver. Jerry Springer the Opera. Lord of the Rings the Musical. Spend Spend
Spend. Matin Guerre. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Zorro the Musical. Dirty Dancing the Musical.
Sunny Afternoon. Shakespeare in Love. Fifteen Streets. An Inspector Calls. Festen. On an
Average Day. Of Mice and Men. Private Lives. View From the Bridge. TelevisionThe Bill.
Eastenders. Casualty. Fell Tiger. A Kind of Innocence. Fatal Inversion. Broken Glass. Scolds
Bridal. The Mayor of Casterbridge. Rock Face. Blue Dove. The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd
ANDREW CHESSELL
Artistic Director
Rugby School
Trained at the Drama Studio, London and the Central School of Speech and Drama, Andrew
also has an MSc in Educational Leadership. He has worked at Rugby School for the last five
years, initially as Director of Drama and now as the Artistic Director. During his time at the
school pupils taking GCSE and A Level Drama and Theatre Studies numbers have grown
significantly and record breaking results have also been achieved. This sustained growth
has resulted in an expansion of department staff. He is an experienced Head of Department
with more than 20 years of involvement in education in both the state and independent
sector. As a freelance practitioner he has worked for leading companies including the Royal
Shakespeare Company, the Royal Opera House and the National Theatre. Keen to support
the cultural life of Rugby and its environs, next year Andrew will launch, with his colleagues,
a new project, The Festival on the Close, 2017, an arts festival for the whole community of
Rugby and beyond. Patrons include Dame Judi Dench and Anthony Horowitz. The
programme will feature such companies as Motionhouse, the Reduced Shakespeare
Company and Stomp.
JAMES OXLEY is an opera concert singer whose performances have taken him to venues
all over the world. To further his theatre skills he joined, in 2007, the experimental company
‘The Factory’ performing multiple roles in Shakespeare and worked, for two years, on the
acclaimed production of The Odyssey, an improvised version of Homer’s tale. Whilst with
Factory, his work with the company on voice and verse led to his being engaged by
Shakespeare’s Globe to assist the productions of Richard III and Twelfth Night as Voice
Coach, where he worked with Mark Rylance, Stephen Fry and Roger Lloyd Pack. He has
given workshops and masterclasses in Voice at the RSAMD, the Classical Studio of New
York University and Oberlin Conservatory.