Excluded (6-30 Nov) @ St Saviour’s Church

Permanent exclusions continue to rise, but not as sharply as in previous years. For the academic year 2017/18, an average of 42 pupils was excluded daily, totalling just fewer than 8,000 for the year.

The issues behind these the grim statistics that the latest production by youth theatre Intermission hopes to reveal in their latest production ‘Excluded’.

Excluded is a powerful and urgent piece of new writing that uses Shakespearean verse and characters to delve into the lives of our young people in education and holds a mirror up, unearthing their issues and exposing a system that ignores some of the most vulnerable in our society.

Miss Portia has her work cut out as she battles to navigate this class into the next chapter of their lives… However, things take a turn for the worse when, unbeknown to her, Cassius decides to lead a conspiracy to bring down Caesar. Tensions are rife and tempers high as they move toward an act of violence that could change their lives forever.

Darren Raymond said of the production “I wanted to transplant some of Shakespeare’s characters into a school and see how they might have performed. This story aims to explore the relationships they might have developed that could have compelled them into the moments when we meet them in Shakespeare’s plays – all the while shining a light on the urgent issues our young people are facing in education today.”

Intermission Youth Theatre has been creating re-imagined Shakespeare plays since 2008, exploring the Bard’s work through the eyes of a diverse company.

Excluded, 6-30 Nov, Intermission Theatre, St Saviour’s Church, Walton Place, SW3 1SA, 7.30pm £13-20 (conc) https://intermissiontheatre.ticketabc.com/events/excluded/

Pic credits – Richard Jinman