Returning to the South West for the eigth year running, the Shakespeare Schools Festival, the largest youth drama festival in the UK, hijacks Bristol and Bath’s most popular venues, bringing us Iraq-bound Romeos, cowboys in confusion and kings who run away to join the circus. Fiona Morrison meets festival organisers Emily Clarke and Bonnie Austin.

With a murderous Macbeth meditating in a business suit, Richard III ruling over a spirited circus and ‘The Comedy of Errors’ tripping over itself in the Wild West – this is not your standard Bard fest. The Shakespeare Schools Festival gives young people the opportunity to reinvent the playwright in professional theatres up and down the country. Returning to the South West for the eighth year running, students of all ages will perform at the Tobacco Theatre in Bristol, with comedy, tragedy and history being played back-to-back in 30-minute slots on the 17th and 18th of November.

Aspiring young thesps from 600 different schools take proud ownership of Shakespeare during the festival, hijacking well-known venues across the country where dress rehearsals are conducted by professional directors and performances are given a glossy finish with handsome flyers and posters. Having performed in the festival herself in 2004, SSF graduate and festival organiser Emily Clarke tells us – along with festival manager Bonnie Austin – what it’s all about.

Why does Shakespeare remain such a draw?

Emily Clarke: The themes are timeless! Shakespeare remains one of the most important figures in literature. There are so many things young people can relate to in his plays – revenge, jealousy, love – his stories are so powerful and still resonate today.

Bonnie Austin: There’s something in Shakespeare for everyone, even if they can’t speak or are in a wheelchair, regardless of whether they’re eight or eighteen years old.

When we’re explaining the festival or trying to get people on board we do get some resistance about the fact that perhaps we’re dumbing down Shakespeare. But then the performances come round. When you see what schools have come up with you realise that Shakespeare’s possibly the most accessible playwright, and I’m not sure you could do something like this if it wasn’t Shakespeare.

EC: Also Shakespeare isn’t a quick process. It reminds people how important language is and how important communicating a feeling is. The festival really helps young people find empowerment in their own emotions.

SSF is known for giving students and teachers the chance to be creative. What have the schools come up with so far?

BA: We had a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ set during the Iraq War once. We also had a ‘Romeo and Julienne’ instead of Juliet which tried to tackle homophobic bullying at school which was really interesting. Ian McKellen [one of the festival’s patrons] became very interested in what they were doing and wrote an article about it.

EC: A lot of it is concept and teachers decide they want it set in a certain time. In Bristol, this year we’ve got a Richard III with a circus theme. I’m really excited to see how they’re going to do that! Familiar concepts make Shakespeare more accessible to students because then they can relate to it. Everything is so quick and immediate nowadays and young people are in danger of losing their imaginations. Doing something like ‘Richard III’ in a circus captures the imagination of young people. There are no wrong answers in theatre. It’s all about experimentation and enjoyment!

Do young people find Shakespeare challenging?

EC: It’s a challenge for students simply because Shakespeare isn’t easy at any age! Professional actors and directors spend months in the rehearsal room trying to understand what’s happening.

BA: We’ve got a whole load of testimonials from teachers saying it was the highlight of their career and that nothing has changed young people quite like this. It makes you think it can’t just be the fact that these kids are getting on stage, it’s to do with the fact that it’s Shakespeare and is such a great challenge.

EC: They really feel that they’ve accomplished something. Condensing the material down to thirty minutes makes it much more engaging. It gives students a confidence boost. We make it accessible and fun, although we keep the original script. It’s not something that's intimidating, but a process that's enjoyable and empowering.

Empowering how?

BA: You hear stories about students who are at risk of being permanently excluded from school completely changing after SSF. Some of the lead roles – especially for boys – are often troubled people (Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello), and when young boys are engaged with a character who has huge and often similar issues, it gives them a chance to put things into perspective. In the play they get to explore the consequences of their actions which they can’t do in real life. For example, “What’s done cannot be undone.” For a child bullying others at school that’s an incredible lesson to learn. We all know that it’s much easier to explore something in someone else’s shoes.

Shakespeare brings all kinds of characters from all walks of life together. Does this reflect the festival itself?

EC: Yes that's so true; the plays themselves encourage openness and mixing. You’ve got girls dressed up as boys and servants deceiving their masters. These are unusual worlds with characters finding themselves in strange circumstances. So it’s a really supportive environment for students when they’re put alongside other people that they wouldn’t normally work with. It’s really eye-opening and self-fulfilling for them.

BA: On any one night you can have a crazy mixture of schools that are very representational of that area. These are kids that live just down the road from one another but never spend time together. We put them all on stage and they’re all equal. It sounds cheesy but you really start to see barriers being broken down.

THE SHAKESPEARE SCHOOLS FESTIVAL RETURNED TO THE TOBACCO FACTORY, BRISTOL ON THUR 17-SAT 19 NOV, PERFORMING ‘RICHARD III,’ ‘KING LEAR,’ ‘MACBETH,’ ‘TWELFTH NIGHT,’ ‘THE COMEDY OF ERRORS,’ AND ‘THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.’ FFI: WWW.SSF.UK.COM