On Monday 10th February, a group of 18 Woodchurch pupils took part in the Coram Shakespeare Schools Festival, the world’s largest youth drama festival. Pupils performed at the newly built Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot a traditional 470 seat timber framed Elizabthen theatre that is set in-the-round with the audience surrounding the stage. Pupils have been rehearsing two evenings a week since November towards a production of Romeo and Juliet and took ownership of the play, reimagining what Shakespeare can be and how it should look and sound on stage. Our pupils inspired the Performing Arts staff working on the project by becoming co-creators of the production, with much of what was presented on stage being their own ideas and interpretation of Shakespeare’s text. Pupils also took part in an in-school workshop with a visiting professional actor who worked with the company during the rehearsal process to develop their characters and teach them specific vocal and physical acting techniques to deliver Shakespeare for the stage. Alongside performers for this production, we also had one of our pupils operating professional lighting and sound equipment for the production who was commended by the professional lighting technicians for her smooth technical capability and decision making throughout the dress rehearsal and final performance. We also had another pupil responsible for the theatrical design ideas looking specifically at hair and make up on stage. We were proud of our backstage pupils’ contributions for making the performance possible. Woodchurch’s Romeo and Juliet was highly commended by the leader of the festival for the company’s “romantic and gently humorous Romeo and Juliet by a disciplined, hardworking company.” We are incredibly proud of our company of actors who told one of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies in their own way and demonstrated their talent to a local audience.