International Youth Ensemble

Our International Youth Ensemble was made up of 19 young people from seven countries.

Students from Hong Kong, India, South Africa, Los Angeles and the UK first came together in Stratford-upon-Avon in September 2011 as part of a joint project between the RSC and the British Council called Shakespeare: A Worldwide Classroom. They spent four days together developing skills as performers and workshop leaders.

The students returned to their schools to share those skills and support their peers in taking the 'WSF Shakespeare Challenge', a special version of the Shakespeare Challenge Bronze Arts Award.

The original students then returned for the Worlds Together conference in London in September 2012 where they were joined by young people from Oman and the Czech Republic. The Omani students were the winners of the first Shakespeare Schools Festival held in Oman as a special Shakespeare: A Worldwide Classroom project and the Czech students represented their peers involved in the project.

These young people had just two days together to create their own version of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays, King Lear.

Students represented the following schools: