Queen Anne’s Drama department offers RADA Shakespeare Awards

Queen Anne’s Drama department is delighted to offer RADA Shakespeare Awards in 2021

As part of our Extra-Curricular Drama programme we offer girls the opportunity to prepare for their RADA Shakespeare awards, culminating in an assessment workshop with a director from RADA here on site. This has been an incredibly rewarding process; sometimes initially reluctant students bounce out of their assessments full of enthusiasm and excitement having engaged with Shakespeare’s text in a unique way.

RADA explain the emphasis of the programme as: “a nurturing experience for performers, removing the pressure of a typical exam situation and allowing participants to try out new ideas during the assessment itself. Candidates prepare set speeches and sonnets that they perform to a RADA tutor; once they are given feedback and have discussed the text together, the candidate is then given another opportunity to present, developing their performance as they go instead of an ‘all or nothing’ test. With five levels of awards, candidates are encouraged to engage with more complex texts and enhance their performance at each stage as their understanding and confidence grows’  

"This is no traditional exam... it's a personal journey and you'll learn to connect with the text on a very human level, and really feel it (not just read it and think about it)" - Lois Temel, Shakespeare Awards candidate 

Director of RADA Edward Kemp commented “Since we revitalised the Shakespeare Awards, we have heard from countless young people, parents and teachers: their energy and excitement has resulted in the new Platinum Award level, which challenges young performers to flex their creative muscles and explore their relationship with Shakespeare’s works. 400 years on, Shakespeare still stands at the centre of world theatre and the English language – he offers the best possible workout for actors alongside a profound and timeless view into the human heart, which is why his plays also remain at the core of our work at RADA.” 

Head of Drama Rhodri Punter said "For Queen Anne's to be one of only a few schools to have a RADA examination centre on-site, offers huge opportunities for our girls. They get to work with professional actors and learn to really love Shakespeare. Queen Anne's drama department is also one of only a handful of schools who offer three different Speech and Drama specifications (LAMDA , Trinity and RADA) and, with our first class Performing Arts Centre, it is no surprise that our A level results are 100% A* - A and our GCSE are 100% grades 9 - 7."