Off by Heart Shakespeare
Following the inaugural, BAFTA-winning 2009 poetry recitation documentary, OFF BY HEART, comes SHAKESPEARE OFF BY HEART another national scale project that aims to get school-kids engaging with the words of Mr William Shakespeare. From Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy to Henry V’s ‘Once more unto the breach’ speech, this is a competition designed to get kids into the works and wonder of our greatest ever playwright.
Broadcast to coincide with the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the series and campaign will open up the language and drama of Shakespeare to a new and younger audience. Warm, funny and compelling the competition will test memory, performance, engagement with the language and delivery. Along the way, we’ll see how the act of learning the most famous soliloquies in the English language changes the children taking part and how the competition affects their confidence and ability to express themselves.
1×90’ for BBC2
Executive Producer: Daisy Goodwin
Director: James Runcie
JOIN JEREMY PAXMAN AND SAMUEL WEST AND WATCH A BBC/SILVER RIVER PRODUCTION IN THE MAKING
On Sunday 29 January at 3pm cheer on the finalists at the BBC’s first ever national Shakespeare recital contest Off by Heart.
Nine teenage finalists have won their place at this event by competing against their peers from schools across the UK. Jeremy Paxman presents as they go up against each other to see who can excite the panel of judges, including actor Samuel West and historian Simon Schama, with their delivery of some of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches.
