Meet the men who put the shake into Shakespeare. Julian Chenery's fun versions of the bard's plays are a massive hit around the world
Following eight successful months on tour in the UK, Shakespeare 4 Kidz — or S4K as it's becoming better known — brings Hamlet to the UAE.
The five-star hit, starring Paul Parris as Hamlet, with Jason Lee Scott as Claudius, Pippa Jeronimo as Gertrude and Antony Stuart-Hicks as Polonius, hits the stage in Dubai as part of a Gulf tour which also includes shows in Bahrain, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
Always a huge hit with parents and children alike, S4K made history in UAE when the cast performed A Midsummer Night's Dream to 12 sell-out crowds in Dubai and Sharjah on the debut tour in 2007.
S4K founder and chief executive, Julian Chenery, says S4K evolved over the years. But as the next few paragraphs will reveal — he ironically has his children to thank.
He said: "Shakespeare 4 Kidz began life in 1996, but the original inspiration goes back to the early 1980s. Matt Gimblett, my composer and writing partner, and I, both had children at the same primary school, in Woldingham, Surrey where Matt's wife was the speech and drama teacher."
"She asked us to write short musical plays for the junior children to perform, as she felt there was a lack of good material. And that's where it all began."
The result was short musical plays such as Robin Hood and A Christmas Carol. In 1995, the dynamic duo produced a full-length show called What Did You Do in the War, Grandad? which contained material relevant to the education curriculum.
The unprecedented success of the show encouraged the school to commission the Chenery and Warnock team to write a second show the following year.
Chenery added: "I had wanted to ensure that our endeavours had an element of ‘educational kickback' so the children's efforts would result in some embedded learning that was somehow linked to the curriculum."
And then came the Shakespeare.
Adaptations
After much consideration about the direction the shows should take, the pair eventually suggested an Evening of Shakespeare consisting three short
30-minute musical adaptations — a comedy, a history and a tragedy — especially adapted from the original Shakespearean verse so the children could understand the story.
"However, when we started work on the first piece — A Midsummer Night's Dream — we realised we shouldn't cut it down to 30 minutes but leave it as a full-length show. That show, performed in the summer of 1996, became Shakespeare 4 Kidz: A Midsummer Night's Dream."
Where does the inspiration for S4K come from?
In a small way, Shakespeare 4 Kidz owes its inspiration to a night of Mozart in South London. In a small fringe theatre in Croydon, I was totally inspired after an opera was broken down and performed in colloquial English by just six actors. Here was an artform, opera, that I had never had any interest in before and yet I had been shown it in a way that opened by eyes and ears to the genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
What is your most memorable moment with S4K?
Bringing the company to Dubai for the very first time in 2007 and seeing the reactions of the audiences to our work. It is exciting to see our work, which is so popular in the UK, proving to be even more so for international audiences in the UAE.
Can you recall your funniest piece of feedback from a child?
Someone wrote in about Hamlet the other day saying: "I thought it was quite sad when everyone died but otherwise it was a very good tragedy."
Do you have to like children in order to write for them?
I suppose it helps. I think it's important to love writing for audiences of all ages.
How does the response from children differ in Dubai than in the UK?
I'm delighted to say that we enjoy hugely positive reactions wherever we play. However, here in Dubai we have had such a great reaction to our shows and such positive feedback that it reassures you to know that our work can play anywhere in the world and be equally enjoyed.
Is it harder to bring Shakespeare to the Middle East as it is not as widely studied here?
In the UK, every school child has to study Shakespeare. Fortunately, because he is such a famous writer most people in the world have heard of him.
The great thing about working in countries where the study of Shakespeare is not compulsory is that the audiences are more ready to be entertained rather than having to see the play because they have to sit an exam on it.
