The Shakespeare Festival – 2026

The Shakespeare Festival 2026 was absolutely fantastic! The year 9 pupils really astounded us with their talent and creativity. We were delighted to have two judges this year, renowned Belfast playwright, Finn Kennedy and Creative Director of Brassneck Theatre Productions, Tony Devlin. Their insightful and valuable comments on each production highlighted the innovative ideas, the dedication and the endeavours of each class in this year’s Shakespeare Festival.
The year 9 classes excelled themselves in their commitment to their performances: learning lines; producing fantastic sets; managing sound and music; choreographing dances and stage movement and creating colourful costumes. The themes were really exciting and contemporary, and the audience loved them!
Our judges awarded prizes to the best actors and supporting actors for each performance as well as trophies for the best: set, choreography, costume, sound, adaptation and best overall performance.

The day began with 9J’s modern interpretation of Shakespeare’s, Macbeth, based on the computer game, ‘Clash Royale’. 9J really entertained us and set an exciting tone for the day with spooky witches and a wonderful cast who enchanted the audience.

9J

 

Next came, 9M’s ‘Romeo and Juliet: A Despicable Romance’. In a blaze of colour, the audience enjoyed this truly creative interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. The cast danced their way into the audience’s hearts with superb costumes and sound. It was also hilarious with amazing performances by the lead roles.

9M

Then we were treated to 9F’s ‘Macbeth: Fair is Foul in Oz’. With shimmering green streamers and an amazing yellow brick road, the cast presented this ‘Wicked’ take on Macbeth complete with a hilarious fight scene and slick choreographed routines. What a super adaptation!

9F

Then came 9P’s wholly original ‘Comedy of Terrors’. This was a professional and seamless production of thirteen of Shakespeare’s death scenes. The audience was wowed by this clever and entertaining play complete with amazing choreography and beautiful costumes. We were enthralled! The tech in this production blew our socks off!

9p

Finally, we were treated to an original interpretation of 9B’s ‘Macbeth: The Traitors’. The audience really enjoyed the fantastic interweaving of this theme in Macbeth with superb performances from the actors. The audience loved the actions of the Traitors and Claudia herself, not to mention the very funny cameo by Mr Toner.

9B

Special thanks to the Music department and their talented students who entertained the audience and the judges with piano recitals and beautiful Irish melodies by their trad band. Thanks to the Art Department also, who judged the best programmes for the festival. Thanks also to the pupils who helped with lighting, sound make-up and backstage. It was a real school team effort.
An in all, the Shakespeare was a really exciting and successful day for year 9 and an especially engaging one for year 8, who were picking up tips for their performances for next year’s festival!