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A brief appearance by William Shakespeare

Once upon a time my year 9 English class was visited by a Detective. He had with him a mat and when he unrolled it the outline of two bodies were revealed like those you would find at a murder scene. Yes two bodies had been found the Detective said and it was our job to work out how they died. Our only clues were a small dagger and a small empty glass vial. Cue much ridiculous guessing

‘They were shot’ No bullet holes
‘They were stabbed to death by gang members’ only one stab wound
‘They killed each other in a fight to the death’ They did not kill each other.


The Detective tried to give us a clue but in reality just asked more questions than answered*
‘Do we have a man and a woman, 2 men, 2 women?’
‘Who died first?’
‘If A died first why is their hand over the top of B?’

We guessed for ages not really getting anywhere until the Detective enlightened us with the big reveal. ‘These two are called Romeo and Juliet and you lucky people are now going to read exactly how they died. When you’re done I want a report filing as to the facts of the case and you’re verdict as to who was responsible’. I was hooked and that is why Romeo and Juliet are my #bookadayuk ‘Made to Read at School’ choice.


*Needless to say the Detective was not really a Detective but a very convincing Drama Teacher (well to 13 year olds at least) and you will be relieved to know that no one in my class as far as I am aware went on to become Detectives!

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