Shakespeare Schools Festival is the UK's largest youth drama festival. We work with 1200 primary, secondary and special schools across the UK every year and we're now hiring freelance staff for our 2014 Festival in September, October and November across Wales.

Please contact Wales Festival Coordinator Reg Noyes on reg.noyes@ssf.uk.com

Cast Workshop Facilitator: £135 per day (22^nd September 2014 – 17^th October 2014)

We are looking for Cast Workshop Facilitators to lead and run Shakespeare-specific drama workshops with our Festival participants. The Facilitators will deliver two half-day workshops per day, each to two casts from different schools. Participants are aged 8 to 18, and can include students from special schools.  The workshop will be focused on the fundamentals of stage craft: working as an ensemble, projection, physicality, and characterisation.  The Facilitators will also be expected to give constructive feedback to the cast on an extract from their production.

All Cast Workshop Facilitators will receive 2 full days of training to prepare them for the role, paid at £120 per day.

50% of our Cast Workshop Facilitators will be invited to become Venue Directors to work on our Performance Days.

Venue Director: £155 per day (13^th October 2014 – 21^st November)

The Venue Director working with a Venue Manager hosts the performance day in a professional theatre, establishing a welcoming, supportive and professional environment for the visiting schools.  The Venue Director leads the cast through a technical and dress rehearsal, acting as the liaison between theatre technicians and the teacher director, ensuring that there is clear and productive communication between the two parties.  The Venue Director provides creative support and advice where necessary and troubleshoots any problems that arise calmly and diplomatically.  The Venue Director is responsible for ensuring rehearsals run smoothly and to time.

The Venue Director leads a full company warm-up for all four schools before they perform and host the evening performance.  After the performances, the Venue Director gives a short, but meaningful appraisal of each production. 

All Venue Directors will receive 1 full day of training to prepare them for the role, paid at £80 per day. 

Venue Managers

Our SSF Venue Managers will work at both Cast Workshops and Performance Days. Our ideal Venue Manager will:

• have experience of working with young people and ideally teachers
• have experience of working in theatres and with theatre staff 
• be willing to travel across regional areas in the UK, across our theatre network

Cast Workshop Day £80 per day (22^nd September 2014 – 17^th October 2014)

On the Cast Workshop Day, the Venue Manager runs the logistical elements of the day, welcomes and supports teachers and technicians and liaises with the theatre staff. The Venue Manager checks that the space is ready to hold a workshop, welcomes the teachers and schools and introduces the Workshop Facilitators.  Along with the Workshop Facilitators, the Venue Manager is responsible for embodying the SSF ethos on the day, making young people and teachers feel supported and ready to take on the next step of the Festival process. The Venue Manager holds a meeting with the teacher directors and the theatre technicians to discuss the productions. They offer advice, help to establish technical plans and elicit any other requirements, checking that school groups are prepared for the upcoming performance day. They also meet with marketing students to give a brief talk on how to market their productions.  The Venue Manager closes the workshop and thanks the Workshop Facilitators.

Performance Day: £155 per day (13^th October 2014 – 21^st November 2014)

Alongside the Venue Director, the Venue Manager is responsible for creating a safe, organised and welcoming environment at the professional theatre on SSF performance days. The Venue Manager has specific responsibility for backstage and Front of House activity.  They, organise the sometimes complex logistics of having 100+ young people in a cramped theatre space and the Front of House arrangements for a busy evening of theatre. Responsibilities include but are not limited to - ensuring that schools have adequate dressing room space and know where to store props and costumes; that teachers and young people are clear on the schedule of the day and ensuring that appropriate box office and seating arrangements are carried out. The Venue Manager also monitors box office sales on each performance day, making sure that programmes are on sale and recording ticket and programme sales to be communicated to SSF’s accounts department.

 Venue Managers will provide an introduction to working in a professional theatre to teachers and casts, making sure that they have all the key information and answer their questions while upholding the fun and supportive atmosphere that SSF promotes. Venue Managers are an absolutely vital part of the performance day and will be required to troubleshoot independently throughout each busy performance day.

All Venue Managers will receive 1 full day of training to prepare them for the role, paid at £80 per day.