We were delighted to host the English Speaking Union’s Regional Final of Performing Shakespeare last week. Every congratulations to our two finalists, Ayan S and Luke G for their excellent performances. We are delighted that Luke won this round and will participate in the final at The Globe Theatre in London on 23rd June. 

Here is a recollection of the event through Luke’s eyes…

The Shakespeare competition run by the ESU ( English Speaking Union ) was a competition where we had to perform an introduction and a speech from one of Shakespeare’s plays. I entered this competition with Macbeth’s dagger speech. In this competition, before we all perform, we do a drama workshop. This is where all the performers do a fun warm-up exercise with the judges. This time we did a little extract from the witches in ‘Macbeth’ and an argument between Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Then we would have a break and we could make some new friends and get ready for our performance. When we did our performances it was very different from any other type of competition that I have ever done before because before we went up everyone would clap and be really supportive; the atmosphere wasn’t very competitive ( which was a good thing ) and it just felt better than any other competition I have ever entered before – and I have entered a lot – which took off a lot of pressure. Then we would read our introduction which we had written ourselves. Then we did our Shakespeare performances and it was just so interesting to see all of the different acting styles that people did. Then we would have another break while the judges decided on the winner  and then we would go in to get our certificates and then they announced the winner. So all in all this was a very fun experience. I was really surprised to win the regional final and am looking forward to performing in the final at The Globe Theatre some time in June.

 Luke G – Y7 (Cave)