Saint Paul’s Inspired by Shakespeare

Year 9 pupils from Saint Paul’s were recently visited by staff and students from UCEN to take part in a Shakespeare workshop focusing on Macbeth.

Over 30 talented actors from UCEN Manchester’s The Arden School of Theatre (Northern School of Dramatic Arts) were invited into school to perform Shakespeare’s Macbeth accompanied by Arden’s Devising Director, Alan French, and Nawshin Khan from GM Higher.

Our 180 students aged 13-14 watched the live performance, each took part in a fun and stimulating two-hour drama workshop led by the UCEN students and completing related research and writing activities around themes and social context in class. Although they have studied other Shakespearean texts, students were totally new to the play but will go onto study this as part of their English Literature GCSE next year.

The event was fully funded by GM Higher – a collaborative local network working in partnership with the national Uni Connect programme – which aims to raise the aspirations of young people in Greater Manchester and promote and facilitate access to higher education.