By Mags Delaney-Moffatt

Well, what a week that was! The sun shone in the sky and the stars shone on the stage.

At the beginning of the week there were 17 not very sure of each other individuals going through the process of getting to know one another (and me) and learning about a Shakespeare play they weren’t too familiar with. By Friday they were as tight a band of performers as I have ever worked with.

The Friday night performance was excellent because during the week everyone had worked together so well.

They came up with ideas for their characters and how they interacted with each other.

The most telling comment made by one of them was how great it was to be with others, who like them, were passionate about performance, as in their drama classes some students were just in it ‘for an easy pass.’  (That upset me to hear)

Drama is such a powerful tool – it brings about a growth in confidence, develops teamwork and leadership as well as much enjoyment.

From Monday’s ‘I’ll never learn all those lines’ to Friday’s ‘Can we do this again next week?’ it was a real pleasure to be a part of it for me to see young actors develop not only as characters but as people.

I think old William Shakespeare would have been as delighted as I was to see his work brought to life in such a joyous way.