After long delay they get to perform in national slam poetry marathon

William Hogarth School pupils at the theatre

Despite feeling like a lifetime ago, back in the heady days of pre-pandemic freedom, Year 4 children at The William Hogarth School took part in a national slam poetry competition.

The winning poets would be given a chance to perform on a West End stage as part of a 24-hour poetry marathon. Two groups of children from the William Hogarth School won performance slots and were raring to go until everything was locked down and events were cancelled in March 2020.

At the beginning of January this year, the competition organisers contacted the school to find out whether the children would be confident and able to perform their poems after all this time. The children (and their teacher) jumped at the chance – they were champing at the bit with thoughts of realising their dream of performing in the West End.

Last week, the children finally performed their pieces at the Criterion Theatre in Central London, in front of an actual audience, helping to launch the next creative arts series. The video of their performance can be watched on YouTube.

For the children, this performance was a well-deserved climax, reflecting their hard work, their ambition, their spirit say their teachers.

The children spoke proudly of their performance, “Some of the adults had to read their work, we knew ours off by heart” and they are looking forward to seeing their poems in print as part of the published anthology.

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January 27, 2022