Summary of Work for Academic Year 2010/2011

This has been another exciting year for FINDING THE WILL as not only have we acquired another patron in the form of Sue Pritchard in Dorset but Bernie has also been honoured with the OBE (we think it should be a knighthood!) so many congratulations to him. We are, as ever, extremely grateful for the ongoing support of all our patrons and hope that you will all have more of an opportunity to come along and see our work in 2011/12. Once again we have increased the number of schools we visit and expanded our horizons by writing and performing two more monologues in our own show BARD HEADS. 

The autumn term 2010 was quite quiet for FINDING THE WILL as far as school bookings were concerned, however we did showcase BARD HEADS for Rural Arts Wiltshire and were thrilled to gain three bookings for that in February and March of 2011 - more of that later.

January 2011

Heritage Park Primary, Peterborough – The Tempest Residency Week with Years 3-6

We are great fans of this school and they, in turn, are great fans of FTW!  All the children know us at the school and our week with them at the end of January has become a mutual highlight. Once again we had a brilliant week and are set to go back in January 2012 to do ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. 

February 2010

Frindsbury Hill Top School, Kent – The Tempest workshop with Year 6

This was our second visit to this large primary school near Rochester in Kent where we will be returning in February 2012.  Some of the teachers’ comments on the evaluation form:

“Enjoyed the interactive nature of a drama workshop and the fact all children are actively involved.”

“The children took away an enthusiasm for and knowledge of Shakespeare”

“Thank you. See you next year!”

 

George Dixon International School, Birmingham – Macbeth Workshops with Year 9

This was our first visit to a large secondary school in Edgbaston.  The students were all from international backgrounds and English was not always their first language.  We led three workshops on ‘Macbeth’.

“The students enjoyed themselves and felt that they were taught a great deal.  I was very impressed with the fact that you were both able to hold their attention for such long periods of time. Great achievement!”  

“The Macbeth package is appropriate for all levels in KS3 and I look forward to working with you again. “ 

March 2010

Druridge Bay Middle School, Northumbria – Macbeth Workshops with Years 7 & 8

First visit to this school and possibly the last since the school was due to close this summer!  However we had a really good day there and all the students were fully engaged with all the activities including Group Direction, ‘The Jeremy Kyle Show’ and becoming witches.  Unfortunately due to the nature of the impending closure we have no evaluation form from this school. 

Horndean Technology College, Portsmouth – Twelfth Night and Hamlet  Workshops and Bard Heads Performances with Years 7 &8

This was an interesting one!  This secondary school wanted two introductory workshops and performances for an average of 230 students each lasting 1 hour 50 minutes.  The only way we could accommodate all of their wishes was to combine a workshop with a performance of the appropriate BARD HEADS  monologue once the choice of plays was known.  Some of the  comments from students and teachers were as follows:

“We enjoyed live theatre, and the way you used students to do some acting – it brought it to life”

“We took away a basic understanding of the main plot and characters in Hamlet & Twelfth Night plus how to convey empathy with a character: to stand in his shoes.”

“As a teacher the most valuable element was considering a different Shakespeare text that I have not read and getting students involved.”

July 2011

Our Lady Immaculate Primary School, Chelmsford – A Midsummer Night’s Dream Workshops for Years 5 & 6

On the penultimate day of the summer term and in the open-air this school presented its own challenges!  However the children got to grips with the complicated plot and thoroughly enjoyed acting out the story in the small wood in the school grounds.  Some comments from the evaluation form are below:

“It was an absolute joy to see so many children involved and enthused!  All of the children were able to access the story, even our SEN children. One boy who has severely delayed speech and language problems played a part convincingly. Then went home and re-told the story to his parents who were absolutely amazed!  Many, many thanks.”

“One word – OUTSTANDING!”

We have had many other enquiries from schools from Northumbria to Manchester, Essex to Cornwall but clearly the economic climate and the tightness of budgets has been a major barrier.  However already 2012 is looking healthy with re-bookings and some new primary schools in Lincolnshire and London booking residency weeks.  We are also looking forward to visiting a secondary school in Wales in November 2011 for a day of Macbeth workshops.

 BARD HEADS

As we mentioned earlier BARD HEADS has become an integral part of our work and we are keen to find new venues, touring schemes and literary festivals at which to perform in the future.  To this end we are shortly making a promotional DVD which we hope will help to sell the show further afield.  This year we have added two new monologues so we now have four in total and an evening consists of any combination of two (one male, one female).  There is now the choice of ‘The Whirligig of Time’ (Malvolio, Twelfth Night); ‘The Dust Behind The Door’ (Hermia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream); ‘Call Me Oz’ (Osric, Hamlet); ‘The Third Witch From The Left’ (a lesser known Witch, Macbeth).  Two further monologues are in the pipeline (Friar Laurence, Romeo & Juliet; Miranda, The Tempest).

Rural Arts Wiltshire Tour – Spring 2011

In February and March this year we performed BARD HEADS at Cholderton, Morgans Vale & Woodfalls and Brinkworth Village Halls as part of the Rural Arts Wiltshire Touring Scheme.  These were hugely enjoyable experiences for us, and the promoters at each venue could not have been more helpful.

Some Audience comments

 “A fantastic evening – the best one of these events I’ve been to” (Cholderton Village)

“I didn’t really know what to expect – but I didn’t expect that!  I loved it!” (Morgans Vale and Woodfalls)

“I didn’t know anything about Twelfth Night – now I’m going to go home and read it!” (Morgans Vale and Woodfalls Village)

“I’m not afraid to say I had a tear in my eye at the end” (Brinkworth Village)

“This is The Bard in a refreshingly new light brought to life by Richard Curnow and Jules Hobbs.  Bard Heads is an electrifying one-to-one between each character and the audience and is packed to the brim with humour, darkness and pathos.”

Review – Wiltshire Gazette & Herald

 

The Phoenix Theatre, Ross-on-Wye May & September 2011

In May we performed the first two monologues and we are thrilled to be back in Ross-on-Wye next month to perform the second two, such was the interest from the audience, many of whom were seasoned theatre-goers.

Corsham Fringe Festival – June 2011

We were delighted to be invited back to perform our two new monologues in The Pound Studio at this year’s Corsham Fringe Festival.  The audience was a mixture of ages and also some people who had seen us last year and had become devoted FINDING THE WILL fans!  Once again we were reviewed by the Wiltshire Gazette & Herald.

 

Some Review quotes – Wiltshire Gazette & Herald

“Jules Hobbs and Richard Curnow have developed a highly entertaining way of exploring Shakespeare’s plays, from the inside, through the eyes and ears of minor characters.”

“They are irreverent, quirky, enlightening and hugely entertaining.”

“Both pieces are cleverly constructed, and have lots of tasty, topical one-liners. They could change forever the way you look at Shakespeare.”

“If you get a chance to see a local performance by FINDING THE WILL, don’t miss it.”

Worcester Literary Festival – June 2011

We performed all four monologues over the course of two nights at Huntingdon Hall.  This is primarily a concert venue and as such was larger than the normal venues we perform at, however both shows sold well and were extremely well received. 

“Bard Heads takes an updated look at some well-loved characters from four of Shakespeare's most popular plays and imagines what might have happened next. The evening consists of two fifty minute monologues full of laughter, tears and quite a few surprises. They explore the full gamut of human emotions and have been written so they can be understood without knowledge of the parent play. Jules Hobbs and Richard Curnow bring sex, scandal, murder, mayhem, madness, tears, tragedy and laughter to A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Hamlet and Macbeth over two nights.” Worcester News

We are both very excited about the work we are doing whether it is in schools, village halls or studio theatres.  It remains a challenge to market the company successfully, to sell BARD HEADS to producers and programmers and to persuade new schools of the benefits of drama.  The last academic year has produced more work than the year before and cemented our growing reputation. 

With many  thanks to all those who continue to support us in so many ways.

Jules and Richard