On Friday July 3, 11 schools went head to head to head in the elimination rounds of the Jamaica National Shakespeare in Schools Competition, held in the Dennis Scott Theatre at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.

Drama clubs from all across the island adapted Shakespeare plays in a Jamaican context, while maintaining the original Elizabethan language. However, when the curtains closed, it was Waterford High, Campion College, Ardenne High, the American International School of Kingston (AISK), the Wolmers’ Trust, Glenmuir High, and a combined Kingston College and St Hugh’s cast that will move on to the penultimate act of the competition to be held in September.

The casts delivered 30-minute productions from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Hamlet and Julius Caesar.

Interesting local interpretations included presenting Puck, a fairy from the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream as folk hero Anancy; the three witches from Macbeth as saucy dancehall queens; and Shylock as a smooth-talking Rastafarian. To complete the Jamaican atmosphere in the plays, the clubs also used reggae and dancehall music as background music, as well as ‘Jamaicanised’ pronunciations of the script, and included elements of indigenous religious practices.

They were judged on their interpretation, characterisation, design and technical management of the production.

Eugene Williams, head of the School of Drama, Edna Manley College, and one of the judges for the competition, said the elimination round was the culmination of an arduous and exciting process for the students and teachers involved. 

 “This competition required them to translate from their emotional language of creole, to the language of Shakespeare, and then, to dramatise in an engaging manner. It was clearly a transformative experience,” he said. Other judges included Alwyn Scott, Fae Ellington and Grace-McGhee Brown.  

The students worked hard on their production. John Gooden, a student of Wolmer’s Boys School, played Petruchio, the wealthy bachelor bent on refining his wife Kate, in the comedy, The Taming of the Shrew. He felt that participating in the competition was a turning point for him.

“It was a tough learning process. I had to work hard to become Petruchio, as he is very different from my own personality, but I enjoyed it. In the end, I surprised myself, as I didn’t know I had the capacity to remember so many lines,” he commented.

Campion’s coach Damion Radcliffe, said that the competition helped to unearth leadership potential in his students.

“I am now grooming two of the female leads to take on the role of director for the next competition,” Radcliffe said.

Three teams will advance to the finals. The schools are vying for an all-expense paid trip to London to, among other things, participate in the Shakespeare Festival to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.