Beckley pupils bring the Bard to life

They performed an abridged version of Romeo and Juliet.

Year 6 pupil Francesca Richardson said: “Beckley CE Primary school were brilliant actors and actresses taking part in the Shakespeare Schools’ Festival. They were the only primary school taking part that night, aged from 9 – 11, but even if they are little in stature, they used the space well.”

Pupil Jack commented: “The costumes were extremely good – you could tell which character they were playing immediately and very easily.

Also it is crucial to be able to tell apart the Capulets and the Montagues. Miss Gibbs and Mrs Bettley did a great job of making them look different.

“The Capulets had blue wristbands and the Montagues had red trilbies. What’s more, seeing that there was more than one Juliet, you could identify them easily with matching dresses and a flower garland.

“The audience were very well-behaved. They laughed at the right times and were sad when they were meant to be. The only problem was that when people died they tended to laugh!

“The props were really amazing. The swords were made brilliantly – also making sure nobody got hurt was important and hard to do but Beckley handled this very well.

“The acting was exceptionally good. Everyone remembered their lines and nobody messed up on stage. Instead of being vaguely your character, everybody stepped into their parts’ boots and really went for it.

“The death scenes and the fight scenes were particularly good – the Capulets looked like they hated the Montagues and the Montagues looked like they hated the Capulets.”