Welcome to the As You Like It and Escapism Project resource.

The resource is broken down into 2 sections; Context – which aims to provide a brief look at England during the time Shakespeare would have been writing As You Like It; Text; which looks at the play and it’s language, themes, characters etc. This section also contains an interview with Samuel West the Director of this production of As You Like It.

This resource was compiled to support the Escapism response project designed by Sarah Clough to support this production of As You Like It in schools.

ESCAPISM
As You Like It Response Project

Aims:

• To ensure that Sheffield Theatres’ productions reach all strands of formal education; and to enhance their engagement experience of As You Like It.  In the case of this project, Key Stage 4.
• To build upon the long established reputation of Sheffield Theatres’ Education work, and to further enhance the reputation of the Creative Development Programme.
• To develop links with schools who have been and are engaged with the Creative Development Education Programme.
• To develop links with schools by engaging with Sheffield Theatres’ Creative Development Programme.
• To add to Sheffield Theatres’ as a learning organisation, and to promote Sheffield Theatres’ key aims of creativity and learning.
• Create links between Museums and Galleries, YAN and Adult Learning

Objectives:

• The project will be specifically designed for G.C.S.E. Drama Students, with particular focus on the Edexcel syllabus Paper 2 - Drama Performance and Paper 1: Drama Exploration.  The project will also be beneficial for students studying for BTEC in Performing Arts, or other Drama G.C.S.E. syllabuses.
• Specific targeting of schools that have booked on previous response projects or theatre in school’s tours
• The inclusion of teacher’s workshops in the project allow the Education and Education Liaison Officer to develop closer links to the schools engaged in the project and mean that the teacher’s feel supported throughout.  The two complimentary tickets for the production allow teacher’s to give them an opportunity to feedback to schools about the performance space and the specific Sheffield Theatres’ production of the play.
• By providing Education resources to accompany the project, we will be enhancing Sheffield Theatres’ reputation as a learning organisation, providing a lasting literacy legacy in schools and providing a different avenue for students to engage in the project.

ESCAPISM

Duration:   5 January 2007 – 21 February 2007

Performance Date:   21 February 2007

Cost: £150 (Plus VAT).  Participants are also required to be ticket holders

Specifically Designed for:
G.C.S.E. Drama Students 
The project focuses on the Edexcel syllabus (Paper 2 - Drama Performance and Paper 1: Drama Exploration), but would also be beneficial for students studying for BTEC in Performing Arts, or other Drama G.C.S.E. syllabuses.

Content:
As You Like It is a play dominated by the idea of escape: be it an escape from patriarchal values, an escape from authority, an escape following usurpation or an escape to find ones true self. 

In line with the requirements for Paper 2: Drama Performance on the Edexcel syllabus, students will use the script of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It as their stimulus material to create a piece of original Drama focussing on their chosen reason for escape (patriarchy, identity, authority etc).  Within the development workshops, schools will use explorative strategies, such as those required to be developed in Unit One of Paper One: Drama Exploration I (for example Forum Theatre, Marking the Moment and Hot Seating), to develop characterisation and content.

Escapism will also give students the opportunity to develop their application and examination of Key Skills.  Through their devised pieces, students will be exploring the moral and ethical issues; thus developing performances with sensitivity and intelligence.  Students will also have the opportunity to gain an understanding of the social and cultural climate in which Shakespeare wrote As You Like It, and how this still effects the performance of the play today

Students will create imaginative pieces of Drama that communicate to the audience inventively and with clarity their chosen theme of escape, in a shared performance on the set of Sheffield Theatres’ production of As You Like It on the Crucible Stage. 

Structure:
Teacher’s Workshop One: 05.01.07
Workshop One: Dates to be decided in conjunction with the schools. 
Workshop delivery week 15-18.01.07
Teacher’s Workshop Two: 31.01.07
Workshop Two: Dates to be decided in conjunction with the schools      
Workshop delivery week 5-9.02.07
Performance: 21.02.07

Additional:
In depth resources relating to the Escapism project and As You Like It (Hard copy pack included in price)
Page to Stage Event – 9th February 07.  (£2.50 per person)

Two complementary tickets for teachers involved in the project to see the first public performance of As You Like It.
 

Sarah Clough, Education Officer, Sheffield Theatres 2006

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