23/04/2026
Today is The Bard’s birthday and this week I have been into a local primary school to introduce the children to Shakespeare. I have been taking Shakespeare’s stories into schools for over 25 years in a hybrid performance style which is a mixture of storytelling and enacting (with the children taking on key roles), and I am never disappointed by the reactions of learners, no matter how young, to complex language and ideas.
Yesterday, I was telling ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ with very enthusiastic 4-6 and 6-8 year olds. The telling with the 4 - 6 year old children provided a particularly joyful moment: with two of the children in-role as Titania and Bottom, Titania said (with me leading) to the ass-headed Bottom as he sang, 'My ear is much enamoured of thy note'. I asked the children in the audience what Titania meant when she used those words - 'It means she likes his song' came the answer from a small person.
On Monday, I worked with the 8-11 year olds telling ‘Macbeth’ and leading workshops. During the story, various messages arrive to help drive the action, and I give these messages as letters for children to read in-role. Each of these letters has the message in both Shakespeare’s original language and in modern English, and I invite the children to make their own choice. When I started doing this work, primary school children almost always chose modern English, but this changed around 2008 (the effect, I suspect, of the Speaking and Listening initiatives in schools at the time); on Monday every child chose to use Shakespeare’s language. Towards the end of the story, a child who is a struggling reader wanted to be a messenger, and the class teacher and I were thrilled for him that he was determined (with support) to deliver Shakespeare’s original words, and he did so with confidence and clarity.
