THEATRE loving King’s Ely Junior (KEJ) pupils took their special adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ to the Key Theatre in Peterborough.

A total of 30 thespians in Years 5 and 6 staged their 30-minute version of the much-loved comedy in front of an audience of around 300 people as part of the annual Shakespeare Schools’ Festival.

The aim of the festival is to encourage teachers and their pupils from across the country to engage with Shakespeare’s work in an active and ambitious way. Months of preparation culminate in exhilarating performance evenings with young people playing Shakespeare in professional theatres across the country every autumn.

The KEJ production was directed by Laura Dixon. Pupils auditioned in the summer term and had rehearsed for the fun-filled show since September.

Director of Drama and Theatre at King’s Ely, Nick Huntington, said: “The Shakespeare Schools’ Festival is a great opportunity for our young actors in King’s Ely Junior to be performing on a professional stage. We are always surprised by how quickly members of the cast adapt to their new surroundings and how brave they are to perform without inhibition in front of the general public. The young cast was not afraid of tackling Shakespeare’s text and certainly embraced A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which is one of his most well-known and liked comedies.”

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