Guildford Shakespeare Company is celebrating its 20th birthday by highlighting its youth knife crime awareness programme Put Up Your Swords.

Put Up Your Swords is a project born not from strategy but from lived experience in the local community.

It is an eight-week programme for Year 9 pupils which also involves the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, the University of Surrey, Fearless/Crimestoppers and specialised charities including the Kiyan Prince Foundation and Charlie’s Promise.

Guildford Shakespeare Company creative learning producer Kerrie Driscoll said: “Too many young people face life-changing consequences because they didn’t believe they had safer choices.

“That’s why working hand-in-hand with partner organisations, schools, local authorities and our wider community is vital.

“Together we can provide the guidance and real alternatives that help young people step away from danger and reduce the devastating impact of knife-related violence.”

Using Romeo and Juliet as a framework, the programme invites children - in a supported environment - to tackle the realities of knife crime and explore better outcomes.

Pupils take part in drama workshops, professional stage combat sessions, talks from guest speakers with lived experience, and a simulated court case at the University of Surrey where Romeo is put on trial.

Knife crime was not something Guildford Shakespeare Company initially set out to address, but in 2023 a young person was stabbed in a park near its offices in Guildford and airlifted to hospital.

The incident transformed knife crime from an abstract headline into an immediate and urgent reality, prompting the company’s members to ask what responsibility they had as storytellers when working with young people.

Put Up Your Swords was created in 2024 when developing a production of Romeo and Juliet, with the company deciding to offer a programme of more meaningful connection for the young people involved.

It aims to fundamentally shift young people from passive listening to active participation - rather than being told what not to do, pupils are empowered to reflect and rehearse safer choices in a creative and supportive environment.

To date Put Up Your Swords has reached more than 2,000 pupils in six Surrey schools, with independent evaluation demonstrating a significant impact on pupils’ knowledge and attitudes about knife crime.

By the end of the programme, 83 per cent of pupils understood that carrying a knife did not make them safer - up from 50 per cent at the start - while 74 per cent knew where to access support, compared with 35 per cent before the programme.

In addition, 78 per cent of participants felt confident to make safer choices - and at Christ’s College, the proportion of pupils willing to report knife crime increased from 18 per cent to 82 per cent, reflecting a substantial shift in trust.

Teacher feedback reinforced these findings, with all respondents saying the programme was worthwhile and had an impact. Many noted that it engaged pupils who typically struggled in more traditional classroom settings.

Guildford Shakespeare Company now plans to expand the project’s reach and impact by working with more schools across the county and beyond.