Fifty years of mostly painful experiences have taught me that the most crucial aspect of mounting a successful high school Shakespearean production is the cutting of the script. No amount of big sets, bright costumes, comic biz or daring sword-play will hide characters that cannot be understood. If the production is long and mainly visual it will be dull! A lean production that is spoken clearly and acted passionately, will be cherished. For rehearsals, the more time you spend around a table making sure every actor knows what they are saying and hearing, the better. Blocking is so much easier when actors know what they are thinking.

The other challenge to high school productions of course is the lack of female roles in the plays. I prefer romantic parts to remain untouched in gender, but some roles, with little tweeks, work quite well as females. Other roles should be played by females dressed as men. The audiences won't really care about the gender of casting anyway - not if the text is clear and rich.

Columbus School for Girls, Janetta Davis, production of Macbeth, 2005
The show was fabulous - and I credit your amazing adaptation. The vacuuming process allowed us to get to the dramatic action - immediately. Not having to spend weeks having to figure out obscure references, permitted the girls to go so much further with their work on character than they would have had the time to do with an "un-vacuumed” version.
Albuquerque Academy, Janice Fichuk, Romeo & Juliet, 2006
Rodger, I just wanted to let you know how successful our Romeo & Juliet was. The script was so actor friendly. The size made adding blocking notes easy and was comfortable to hold. The pace of the production was swift and even our young 6th and 7th graders understood the production easily. I emailed your Web Site to several friends who teach theatre in High Schools around the country and told them how pleased I was with your script.