Virtual Shakespeare Schools Festival South Africa

SHAKESPEARE SCHOOLS FESTIVAL TAKES REMAINING EVENT ONLINE FOR THE FIRST TIME

The Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF) has announced that it will be presenting the second half of the annual event as a virtual festival, a first for the popular annual drama event that took place at the Fugard Theatre just before the venue was forced to close in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

2020 marks the Shakespeare Schools Festival South Africa’s (SSFSA) 10th anniversary, a remarkable milestone. Since the restrictions around the Corona Virus, festival organisers have had to re-imagine the Shakespeare Schools Festival that was scheduled for the remainder of this year. After close correspondence with stakeholders, Educators and SSF team members, it was decided that the event will go online with all South Africa's COVID-19 guidelines and protocols in place for those preparing and filming their performances. Being online means that performances will reach a far wider audience across the world who would otherwise be unable to attend in the physical theatre space. 

The virtual SSF will take place from 19 to 25 September and audiences can look forward to variety of video recordings of the productions from participating schools and community based performance groups from the Western Cape, Gauteng, Kwazulu Natal and Eastern Cape, as well as international participation from partner schools in St Petersburg, Russia, and in Estonia. 

An additional component this year, will be the Bayabuza program! ‘They Ask; We Answer’, an online webinar series that will focus on assisting students to develop critical thinking and examination skills. With the expertise of Educators such as Shelani van Niekerk, Kaulana Lynn Williams and Sivenkosi Gubangxa who are all proficient in the Grades 10-12 English set works and trained theatre, film and television professionals. 

Naturally, having to pivot to an online format and during a global pandemic, has meant that the organisation has had to take on new unforeseen expenses such as; data, editors, masks, sanitisers and more. The organisation as dedicated to supporting their participants and staff, as contracts and employment have fallen away within the arts and cultural sector. The festival usually depends on ticket sales as a stream of income. The festival organisers have decided to open the online virtual festival to the general public at no cost, making the festival experience accessible to more people. If you are in the position to contribute, please do so, your donation will go a long way in supporting the work that this organisation does!