Shakespeare School Festival runs until 31 May at the District Six Homecoming Centre in Cape Town

For the first time, learners from a special needs school in Brackenfell

took to the stage at the 15th Shakespeare Schools Festival held in Cape Town over the weekend.

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The crowd cheered after the Paarl School for the Neural Disabled performance of an adaptation of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the District Six Homecoming Centre. Performers included learners with physical disabilities, cerebral palsy and learning disabilities.

For many of the learners, it was their first time performing on "a real stage", and some had not been to a theatre before.

"When you're physically disabled, it's very difficult for your family to take you places [like this]," explained Alet Marais, the head of the intermediate phase at the school.

Some learners decorated their wheelchairs with flowers. Others dressed in whimsical costumes and wore makeup. The auditorium echoed with laughter and cheers throughout the performance, which ended with a standing ovation.

Marais says that because learners struggle with reading and writing, they chose not to use Elizabethan English in the play.

The performing group was made up of 24 learners, seven of whom use wheelchairs. They were assisted by seven teachers and three aides who helped the learners.

Marais says that getting in and out of the theatre with wheelchaires was a challenge which the school solved with mobile ramps.

The 15th Shakespeare Schools Festival runs until 31 May at the District Six Homecoming Centre, with performances by more than 45 drama groups.

The festival aims to bring together children from different communities to perform adapted Shakespeare plays and to improve language, learning and social skills through the performing arts.