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The Great Shakespeare Debate is a unique project which combines the debating know-how of the English-Speaking Union with the Shakespearian expertise of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
The Great Shakespeare Debate 2008 will be taking place in Stratford-upon-Avon from late morning on Thursday, 7 February to early evening on Friday, 8 February 2008. The ESU and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust fully fund overnight accommodation in Stratford on the Tuesday night for all teams and 1 accompanying teacher and meet all the costs associated with the running of the competition, including those related to the team of expert undergraduate and postgraduate Debate and Shakespearian mentors who help coach students and judge the debates.
Teachers don’t need to coach their students in debating before arrival in Stratford as a comprehensive set of workshops will introduce them to the necessary skills; none of the speakers on last year’s winning team had debated before. Students will also get to listen to several series of ‘lecture nuggets’ which will give them references to plays and historical information that they may not be familiar with and which are directly relevant to the motions to be debated. Of course, experience in debating and/or Shakespeare will be a real advantage.
Topics for debate are arranged as follows:
- Round 1: Debates on a set-text studied by at least one of the team members. The text but not the motion will be confirmed several weeks before the debate.
- Round 2: Debate focussing on the RSC’s production of Henry IV Part I (free tickets included for all participants on the Thursday night).
- Round 3: Debates on general themes pertaining to all or most of Shakespeare’s plays
- Grand Final: Debate on a general theme similar to that in Round 3
- Sir Donald Sinden (one of the country's foremost Shakespearian actors) will award the prizes.
The format for the debates is basically that used in the ESU’s Schools Mace competition (see pages 26-30 of the handbook at www.britishdebate.com/schools/mace), except that it is adapted for a three-person rather than two-person team by having a separate speaker deliver the summary speech. All speeches are the same length at 5 minutes (shorter than in the Mace).
Applications for the Great Shakespeare Debate 2008 have now closed. Please contact Andrew Fitch at andrew_fitch@esu.org if you have any questions.
Mentors
If you are a university student debater (either undergraduate or postgraduate) with some knowledge of, and interest in, Shakespeare, we would be delighted to receive an application from you to join us as one of our debate mentors in Stratford. You will assist us with delivering debate workshops to the participants and judging the debates and may also act out some scenes from Shakespeare or deliver a short presentation as part of one of our 'lecture nuggets'. Your travel costs and accommodation will be paid, you will receive a per diem for food and be taken out for a meal on the Monday night before the competition starts. You will also receive a ticket to see Coriolanus with the debaters. Last year's mentors thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and gained almost as much as they gave.
To apply, please fill in the application form below and return it by Wednesday 19 December, 2007 andrew_fitch@esu.orgRelated downloads:
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