The Open Door Talks to Jacqui Burke about Shakespeare Is Boffo!

East end theatre director Jacqui Burke — who is a home schooling parent and originator of the innovative Shakespeare is Boffo! kids’ theatre programs — talks with The Open Door.

OD: What is Shakespeare is Boffo?

JB: Shakespeare is Boffo! puts a boffer sword in the hands of children as we access Shakespeare through his fight scenes. The course is aimed at 9–15 year olds and designed to introduce kids to Shakespeare in an active and fun way.

July 2012 Shakespeare is Boffo! crew, Jacqui Burke at right.

OD: What is a boffer sword?

JB: A boffer sword is a simplified sword of the type often used in live action role playing games. It is made from a core of PVC pipe covered in pipe foam, bound with gaffer tape (it’s true — you can make almost anything with gaffer tape!). With this type of soft weapon kids can safely play light-contact games such as team tag and engage in mock sword fights.

OD: What kind of child would be interested in the Shakespeare Is Boffo program?

JB: There are those kids who love Shakespeare. They will spend hours engrossed in Shakespeare’s genius. These folk tend to love theatre as well. They’ll jump at the chance to play any Shakespearean role, anywhere. Kids like this would really enjoy this program.

But Shakespeare is Boffo! is not just for people like that.

I have developed a method of teaching Shakespeare more for kids who would tell you they hated it or, at the very least, were ambivalent about Shakespeare — and theatre besides.

OD: So what’s so different about this course?

JB: We don’t assume that the kids like theatre or Shakespeare. And we let active kids be active. We let the children make their own boffer weapons and we let them go at it. And we really emphasize outdoor running around time — and let them use their boffer swords there, too. Sounds like fun, yes? Well, it is.

OD: So this course is basically running around swordfighting? Mainly active games?

JB: No, the course is not just “bashing” each other! I am very sneaky. Through games and fun, we teach the children to use their bodies and voices effectively.  And we have other sneaky games that teach the kids stagecraft.

We also stage the scene surrounding a fight in a Shakespearean play. We, then, deal with that text specifically and the whole play in precis form; so they understand every word they speak along with the overall context.

And, just to shake this up, we do a bit of crafts to make what we need in terms of sets and props and costumes.

OD: Wow — so they think they’re just playing games, but they’re actually studying Shakespearean language and the themes of the play, developing their voice and body, learning stagecraft, and doing arts and crafts?!

JB: That’s right.  In spite of themselves, perhaps — the children pick up a lot of skills in a week with us.

OD: How did you get the idea to teach Shakespeare through the use of boffer sword fighting?

JB: Well, I know a group of folk who are into live action role play — what the kids are now starting to call cosplay. Folks dress up as their favourite medieval character and run about in the forest whacking each other with what is called a boffer weapon — the same style soft sword that we use in our camps. One day it hit me that boffer... boffo...!

I put the two ideas together and the rest just fell into place. What a great way to expose children to Shakespeare.

OD: How does your experience as a parent who is home schooling affect how you teach SIB? Does it affect your methods or your philosophy when you teach?

JB: I believe that play teaches and when my daughter was young, she learned more from songs and play than anything else. I also believe in tired children — lots of physical imagination play in the fresh air.

Look, I recognize that, as in all art forms, discipline and technique — as an adult — are crucial in developing mastery and that there’s a lot of hard work involved in that process. However, if the art can be fun first, perhaps one can attract more kids into a lifelong appreciation, as well as inspire some children to an artists’ path.

OD: Does Shakespeare is Boffo! actually make active kids love Shakespeare?

JB: Well, let me tell you a story. We had one little boy who seemed to just love the running around and games; so, I was surprised at the end to find that he had diligently learned his lines and performed them rather well.

A few weeks later, I met up with the family at a production of a Two Gentlemen of Verona presented in a local park.  We thought the kids would watch a bit and then go play at the playground while they waited for us to finish watching the show.

So what happened? We were amazed to see that this boy sat enthralled through the play. He sat through the whole thing and was animated and engaged in the conversation following the show.

OD: Wow.

JB: Not every child will respond this well but some do. And that’s why we do this.

More about Jacqui:   

Jacqui Burke is an east end theatre director and a parent who home schools. She leads an annual project called Kidsplay in which a group of home schooled children get together to write and perform their own theatre piece including the recent A Wild Life: Kidsplay 2013. Some of Jacqui’s recent directing credits include Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild, David Mamet’s Oleanna at the Red Sandcastle Theatre, and A. R. Gurney’s Love Letters at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. In the fall of  2013, Jacqui will be directing the All-Female The Taming of the Shrew for Jaybird Productions (coming to an empty warehouse or loft space near you) that aims to expose the underlying power relations within this famous (and famously problematic) Shakespeare piece by casting all the roles with female actors.

National Post article on Love Letters at the Toronto Centre for the Arts

2014 update: A few spaces are still available in Shakespeare is Boffo! through this summer’s Open Door Arts programs:

• July 1–11 (Othello), 9 am–4 pm
• July 21–25 (Titus Andronicus), 9 am–4 pm
• Aug. 11–15 (short-day version, Pericles), 11 am–3:30 pm

For more information or to register, go togo to the Open Door's website or email opendooratstds@gmail.com