Shakespeare Schools Festival South Africa

WORDS: Karen Rutter, Editor-in-Chief, Weekend Special. visit www.weekendspecial.co.za

If you can conquer Shakespeare, imagine what else you can do. We’ve seen our theatre festival give young people a real sense of self-worth, and the confidence to tackle difficulties in their lives,” says Kseniya Filinova-Bruton, the founder and CEO of the Shakespeare Schools Festival South Africa (SSFSA), now in its 12th year. Since 2009, the SSFSA has showcased 518 Shakespeare plays across South Africa, working with 10 866 learners from 597 schools, attracting nearly 30 000 audience members. This year it will take place from May to September in Cape Town, Johannesburg, George and Durban.

The festival is special for a number of reasons. It’s committed to reaching children with different educational needs, from diverse societal and economic backgrounds. It takes place in professional theatres across the country – places which many of the participants have never visited before, let alone performed in, like the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, and the Playhouse in Durban. And, importantly, it’s not a competition. “We create a space where each child is celebrated. They’re not put into categories of first, second, third, etc. It doesn’t matter where the child comes from. This is where they’re embraced, where their confidence can grow,” says Kseniya.

The format for each festival features abridged versions of Shakepeare plays. 27 scripts have been created, nine of which are specially designed for primary schools. They’re each around 30 minutes long, and schools choose their preferred script, which also comes with useful guidelines and character notes. It’s up to them how they wish to present the play. “One year we had three different versions of Romeo and Juliet in a single night. One was presented classically, the other was a classroom-rivalry situation, and the third had been translated into isiXhosa,” says Kseniya. “The children just blossom. This is where magic happens.”

POSITIVE EMOTIONAL SUPPORT

The idea for the festival started when Kseniya was a teacher at Wynberg Boys’ High School. Originally from Russia, where she studied at the Saint Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts, Kseniya grew up in a family of theatre makers. “My father was a director of youth theatre, my mother an actress – I made my Shakespeare debt at the age of three, in Twelth Night,” she laughs. In 1995 she travelled to Namibia, eventually making her way to South Africa, where she lived for the next 25 years. “When I was teaching at Wynberg, we revived the drama society, called the Wynberg Boys’ Acting Association. At the time, there was a Shakespeare festival for youth in the UK, and we were invited to take part via video. I was keen to set up something similar here in South Africa, so in a way the Wynberg performance was a pilot,” Kseniya explains.

12 years later, the SSFSA has become Africa’s largest Shakespeare youth drama programme, uniting children from diverse backgrounds with differently- abled capacities and empowering them to transform their lives, using the power of theatre and the works of Shakespeare as the vehicle.

It’s often life-changing for the children who take part.