A Dream in a Day for Birmingham Children

Birmingham primary school children have performed a compelling abridged version of Shakespeare’s complex and intriguing romantic comedy ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, after only one day of rehearsals with a professional producer.

The eight and nine year old pupils from Gossey Lane Primary School stunned parents as they took to the enchanted forest in the roles of Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius in a hilarious rendition of the Shakespeare classic, after intensive coaching from experienced, award-winning West End performer and producer Adam Hepkin. Liz Lawrence, Deputy Head at Gossey Lane Primary School, said:

“Today has given all of the children, including those with wonderful singing voices and acting talents, the chance to shine and I want to say a big thank you to Adam for coming along to mentor the children.

“Some of the children had learned their lyrics by lunchtime and absorbed the play like sponges, our children have shown that they definitely have the capacity to take on such challenges. It has been really successful and we would like to work with Adam on future projects. We see the arts as an important avenue for all children to show their creative potential.”

Jakin Lukoki, one of the children who played Demetrius, the soldier Helena was in love with, said:

“It was really funny and imaginative because there were loads of funny things in the play and cool costumes to wear. I definitely want to do this again!”

Mr Hepkin, Artistic Educational Developer, Grace Academy Solihull, plans to offer more opportunities for Solihull school children to experience the creative arts first hand, and said:

“It has been great to work with the children throughout the day who have taken on board a complex story and performed it after only five hours of rehearsals to a packed school hall of seventy parents. If they can do this in a day, what can they achieve in a month or a year? It’s been a great day, the staff and students have been very welcoming, and I would love to come back.”

Speaking about the artistic challenge Mrs Green, Arts Leader at Gossey Lane Primary School added:

“I was sceptical in the beginning about how good it would be in one day but the children have responded incredibly well to Adam. He started to sing and their jaws hit the floor. They loved having a professional person coming in and rose to the challenge. We introduced them to Shakespeare and they all understood it.”