The John Betjeman Poetry Competition 2011 is now open for entries for your Y7 to Y9s. Entrants are invited to send in (by post or online) one poem on the theme of ‘place’. The judges this year include Liverpool poet Brian Patten and author and journalist Candida Crew. The winner will receive £500 plus the opportunity to donate the second £500 to their school, local library, community hall or church as the recipient of the prize, as this fosters the sense of community and philanthropy in young people. What a great chance! Encourage your students to enter by finding out more at www.betjemanpoetrycompetition.com.
Oxford School of Drama celebrates its 25th anniversary year and sends news of some of its recent graduates. Look out for Charity Wakefield who will star in Howard Davies’ production of The Cherry Orchard which will open the Summer Season for The National Theatre. The production opens at the Olivier Theatre on May 17 in a version by Andrew Upton. The cast also includes Zoë Wanamaker. To book, see www.nationaltheatre.org.
Good news for anyone outside London – Dirty Dancing is set to go on UK tour once the West End show closes on July 9. The show has run for five years, entertaining nearly two million people at the Aldwych Theatre. See www.dirtydancingontour.com for tour details.
We enjoyed the beautifully produced prospectus from the Birmingham Hippodrome which tells the tale of a theatre in facts and figures. In 2009/10, 510,316 seats were sold, 50 per cent of all stage shows were musicals and there were 86 dance and ballet productions out of 391 total performances. The Hippodrome is a prime example of success and excellence in regional theatre. Nevertheless it is launching a new capital appeal to rebuild its stage which will cost a mind-boggling £1 million. For further details on events at the Hippodrome, including the venue’s plans to help to establish Birmingham as the International
City of Dance visit www.birminghamhippodrome.com.
Young scribes can enter Bloomsbury’s monthly online competition 247tales, which challenges them to create a story using 247 words or fewer. Each month a different Bloomsbury author will pen a 247tale on a given theme. One winner will be chosen each month and they will have their 247tale featured on the website as well as winning £75 worth of Bloomsbury children’s books and a framed copy of their story. Ten runners-up will get a signed copy of the latest book from that month’s featured author, and their story will appear in the 247Library section of the website. For full details visit www.247tales.com.
If you are anywhere near Oxford on June 11 and 12, you could pop into the Something for the Weekend event in which six venues in the county offer a wide range of events to encourage new audiences to live theatre and performance. Activities will range from live shows in the venues to free taster classes in arts, dance, drama or music, to walkabout theatre in the open air and behind the scene tours. Sounds fabulous!
We bring news of another competition that could give your students the chance to have their work made into a proper film. Big Voice is being sponsored by BT as part of their support for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. To enter, teams of young people between 11 and 19 should submit a proposal for a film that covers an issue in their community that they want to change – ideally around the themes of diversity and inclusion. The deadline is May 27, 2011. To find out more about the competition visit www.bt.com/bigvoice.
And finally…The Foyle Young Poets of the Year award is now open for entries. Since it started 14 years ago, the awards have unearthed some wonderful new voices in poetry from Caroline Bird to Jay Bernard. With keen-eyed observation, these young poets have proven themselves to be powerful commentators on the times they live in. The fifteen overall winners get the opportunity to work on their poems at a week-long residential course at one of the prestigious Arvon Centres, where they will be tutored by this year’s judges, Glyn Maxwell and Imtiaz Dharker. Winners under the age of 14 will be mentored by a professional poet. The competition is free to enter. Poets can enter more than one poem, of any length, on any theme. For more details and an entry form, visit www.foyleyoungpoets.org.
Image: Imtiaz Dharker by Simon Powell