ESU joins with Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for a Great Shakespeare Debate in Stratford
On Tuesday, 21 and Wednesday, 22 February the ESU's Centre for Speech and Debate joined with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon for an innovative project debating issues from Shakespeare's plays.
16 teams of A-level students came to Stratford from as far afield as Kent and Bradford. They were introduced to our debate format through a display debate and workshops delivered by our team of university student mentors, who also judged the rounds and assisted ESU and SBT staff in delivering short lectures on Shakespearean topics during the two days.
All pupils debated three times during the programme. The first round was on motions specific to their A-level set texts (e.g. 'Shakespeare believes that in Antony and Cleopatra love comes before duty'). More general topics were debated in subsequent rounds (e.g. 'Shakespeare believes that all is always well that ends well' and 'Shakespeare believs that women should rule the world'). The final, with teams from The King's School for Girls, Warwick and Cranbrook School, was on the motion 'This House believes that Shakespeare would want all his plays performed in modern dress', and was judged by Professor Stanley Wells, Professor Carol Rutter and Rhydian Morgan, one of our student mentors. The King's School for Girls won the debate, and were awarded the George Pragnell silver plate, based on a design from the wreckage of the Spanish Armada.
The teams were put up in Stratford on the Tuesday night, and taken to see the RSC's production of The Crucible; these elements further contributed to the programme's unique atmosphere of learning together in an environment which stretched the students' abilities and greatly furthered their knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, Shakespeare.
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