Shakespeare can be a little difficult to follow at times and certainly reading aloud in a classroom is not the best environment to try and understand it.

The Shakespeare School Festival aims to take Shakespeare out of the classroom and put it back onto the stage.

This year two Fermanagh schools, Portora and St Mary's Brollagh, are taking part in the festival and will be performing their abridged version of two Shakespeare plays on the 8th of February at the Ardhowen Theatre.

Julie Morrow, the Northern Ireland co-ordinator for The Shakespeare Festival is delighted with the response from local schools;

"This year is the first year that the Festival has come to Northern Ireland. The festival itself only started six years ago with eight schools performing. This year 1050 schools will perform with over 25,000 children taking to the stage."

Not only is the Festival a great way for school children to practically learn about Shakespeare but it also offers students the opportunity to meet children from other schools and also develop their self confidence.

This is a sentiment that is echoed by Rhona Duffy, who is directing the St Mary's Brollagh students and their abridged version of MacBeth;

"This will help build self confidence and self esteem and hopefully it will mean more students will choose English as an A Level subject but even if they do not the skills learned from performing on stage can be lots of other ways."

Rhona went on to confirm that the practical aspect of the Festival was a real hit with the students;

"To be honest Shakespeare was never meant to be read in a classroom, it was meant to be performed on stage. By actually performing the play the students get a much clearer idea of the play and the issues that are raised in it. Indeed they have learned that a lot of those issues, family, lover, greed are as prevalent today as they were 600 years ago."

Portora are performing Romeo and Juliet. With the enlisted help of some Collegiate girls Their adaptation of the classic love story will take place in a street in Verona during a masked ball and the story is told with the help of various flashbacks.

Tickets are available for the Shakespeare Festival from the Ardhowen Theatre box office. The performances will take place on February the 8th.