Actor grieves the Bard's exit from schools

The textbook characters of Henry V and Romeo and Juliet were brought to life on stage by the Mikelang Borg Drama Unit in a bid to stoke students' curiosity and connect with Shakespeare's plays.

"We want to whet students' appetites and encourage them to learn more about William Shakespeare, one of the greatest playwrights of all time," said Michael Tabone, who directed a number of performances at the drama unit.

The team at the unit chose to stage Henry V and Romeo and Juliet to guide students who were studying these plays for their 'O' level examinations.

The drama unit has been performing two shows every day for the past three weeks for all Forms 4 and 5 students from government, Church and private schools.

The performances are an introduction to Shakespeare, who was born in April, 1564 at Stratford-Upon-Avon, UK and is said to have written or co-wrote 38 plays before he died in 1616.

This time round the drama unit chose to combine a slide show with acting out memorable moments from both plays so as to keep students interested.

"We hope these shows will fuel students' curiosity and encourage them to dust off the covers of their books to find out more about Shakespeare's plays," Manuel Cauchi said.

Mr Cauchi, one of the actors and narrator of the slide show, said that though the plays were penned 400 years ago they were still relevant to this day and age because they dealt with universal emotions.

He said it was such a pity that studying Shakespeare was no longer a compulsory subject in schools but, at least, these shows would serve as an introduction to those not studying these plays, as well as a guide to those studying it.

Stephanie Farrugia, who acted the part of Juliet, said that for most students the play was just words on a page and the unit wanted to breathe new life into Shakespeare's characters.

Yesterday's show was the last performance and Mr Tabone said the feedback from the students who watched it had been extremely positive.

Some students got so carried away with the battle scenes of Henry V and the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet they suggested that the next time round the drama unit should stage the Lord of the Rings or Titanic!

The cast included Victor Debono, Frances Fenech, Paul Portelli, Bernard Riolo, Philip Stilon, Michael Tabone and Marcelle Teuma.

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players... and the students yesterday saw Shakespeare through new eyes.