PUPILS from Dove House School Academy impressed the audience at The Haymarket theatre in Basingstoke with their performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The students were participating in the National Schools Shakespeare Festival along with other schools from Hampshire and surrounding counties.

The largest youth drama festival in the UK, it has worked with teachers for the last decade to challenge the preconception that studying Shakespeare is difficult, dry or dull, through a combination of teacher-training, workshops and student performance in a local professional theatre.

Over 90,000 young people have learned about Shakespeare through this creative, hands-on approach.

As the only school from Basingstoke participating in one of the four half-hour productions at The Haymarket, the youngsters from Dove House were great representatives for the town and were praised by the festival’s organisers for putting the “magic” into their play.

All the pupils at the school have special needs so it was a real achievement for them to learn their lines and perform in front of a full house. Notable performances included Jordan Fretwell as Puck, Lizzie Richmond as Hermia, Rob Lomas, as Lysander, and Peter Basley, as Peter Quince.

The traditional costumes added to the authenticity of the experience while the comical donkey’s outfit, complete with jewelled hooves, made the audience laugh.

After the performance, many congratulations were received by the school including one from Maggie Lund Yates, which stated that the “pupils’ passion for learning was evident”.

Sue Cross, head of English at Dove House School Academy – who also directed the play – said: “The pupils worked hard as a team to support each other in this very challenging venture and I was proud that on the night they were fabulous.”