Annabelle is a student at Alveston C of E Primary School. She performed in the Playmaking Festival: Stratford-upon-Avon, in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre alongside students from local schools. 

When we found out that we were doing Much Ado About Nothing, our class became very hyper and excited.

First, as a class we got to know more about the play and how the characters relate to each other. We then acted out the script in small groups as a form of mini audition so our teacher could cast the children who wanted speaking parts into those roles. Once we found out our parts, we started to rehearse and practise our lines.

After we had a rough idea of what we were doing, we then had Nicky, Ru and Sophie from the RSC come to help us get better and add more detail. I was feeling nervous when they came and I thought having a speaking part put pressure on me but it was so much fun and with their help our play came together so well.

We worked hard and rehearsed on both hot and rainy days. As the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is a thrust stage, we marked out the space in our hall and on the playground using four chairs to mark out the entrances and exits.

I was shocked at how quickly some of the people with lots of lines learned them, it was amazing.