How We Began Producing Shakespeare Plays with Children

When my children and their friends decided to put on a Shakespeare play, the mothers were worried. How would we fit a weekly rehearsal into our busy schedules? Where would we meet? How long would this project take?

It was at this moment that Shakespeare Camp was born. The idea was for all the roles to be assigned several months in advance so that the students could come to camp with all their lines memorized and their costumes and props prepared. We would then rehearse for four days and perform the play the evening of the fifth day. Camp provided a way for the students to realize their dream of producing a Shakespeare play without a large burden for busy families.

We discovered other benefits as well. We experienced Shakespeare’s art in a whole new way; we called it living the play from the inside out. From the first day, the students came to camp dressed in their costumes. It was like living with twenty Shakespearean characters for a week. The people in our plays became quite memorable. We also soaked up the language of Shakespeare as we rehearsed scenes over and over. To this day, lines from various plays are quoted by the children. Finally, the production of our play forged a common bond among our troupe. The friendships that developed led to other projects and gatherings. (Some of these ideas are featured in our “extras.”)

Over time, Shakespeare Camp became so popular that we realized we would need to help other people in our community start a second camp. We decided to put everything we had learned into a format that could be shared with others. In addition to the nuts and bolts of setting up a troupe, we are sharing our well-worn scripts. These scripts are abridged.* We shortened them in order to make the production a realistic length for our students (and their audience). After the initial editing of the Oxford Shakespeare, students compared the scripts to the unabridged plays and made recommendations. We had no idea that we would be sharing our versions with others so you may notice our idiosyncrasies. However, they worked for us so we are sharing them with you.

These scripts can be used in other formats than a week long camp. For example, they could be used by a weekly co-op, a Shakespeare reading for a family or a group of friends, or a club. Based on our experience we are confident that Shakespeare’s work will come alive for you, too.

We hope you will enjoy Shakespeare's works as much as we have!

* According to the staff at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, the plays were probably changed or abridged for various productions even in Shakespeare’s day. To this day the Royal Shakespeare Company also abridges plays when they perform them.