In summer 2018 former 10d had the chance to bump into Will Shakespeare. In a workshop with Charlie they learned to really appreciate Will‘s texts.

Charlie Dupré is an actor, spoken word artist and writer from England who is known for combining literary influences with a pulsing, characterized delivery, a unique brand of poetic wizardry. He has his own rap-theatre shows and is touring festivals and schools. The Scotsman hailed these as “the best English lesson you never had!“

Charlie opens the session with 10d with a short segment of his show “The Stories of Shakey P“ and illustrates how Shakespeare can be repackaged via a contemporary medium such as a rap, in order to tease out an understanding that feels relevant and exciting to our young people. What follows is a class discussion, before the pupils are split into groups to devise their own pieces to then be performed as a short Shakespearean play, and again discussed at the end of the session. With Charlie‘s help the pupils brought Shakespeare to life in a dynamic and engaging performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They were given the opportunity to look more closely at the text and thus gained a deeper understanding of Shakespeare‘s language and purpose.