THE biggest youth drama festival in the country will be coming to the Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage. Four schools will stage four different half-hour Shakespeare presentations each night from February 6-9 in The Shakespeare Schools Festival. The perform

THE biggest youth drama festival in the country will be coming to the Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage.

Four schools will stage four different half-hour Shakespeare presentations each night from February 6-9 in The Shakespeare Schools Festival.

The performances will allow the audience to experience the full range of Shakespeare's output, from high tragedy to comedy in one evening.

Much Ado About Nothing and The Merchant of Venice are among some of the productions the youngsters from 11-16 will perform.

The festival offers secondary schools the chance to perform on a professional stage, following a director's workshop day with the Map Consortium, and a cast workshop with the National Youth Theatre. There will be 25,000 youngsters across the country taking part and performing 1,050 productions at 100 theatres.

Twenty-four pupils from Years 9-11 at Knights Templar School in Baldock will be among the schools taking part.

They will be staging A Midsummer Nights Dream on February 8.

Drama teacher Sarah Camp said: "Rehearsals are going really well.

"We have a modern twist on it and have taken our inspiration from the likes of Catherine Tate.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for our students and a great honour for them to be chosen, because there was a rigorous audition process."

Last year the festival was awarded a Guinness World Record for the most people performing Shakespeare on a single day during a one night of Shakespeare event in association with the BBC.

For tickets which range from £5.50-£7 call the box office on 08700 131 030.

Performances start at 7pm.

- For more information visit www.ssf.uk.com