Then imagine that you had 10 minutes to try and teach an audience about five of Shakespeare’s most important characters and their roles within each play.

This is the problem seven Hunter Valley Grammar School students in Years 8 to 10 are going to try and solve at the 2008 Tournament of the Minds (TOM).

The tournament is a state-wide program held on August 30, at the University of Newcastle.

HVGS has five teams in the primary school and four in the secondary school entering the competition.

There are four disciplines on offer for student teams to enter including applied technology, languages/ literature, social science and maths/engineering.

The idea of the tournament is for various year groups to create a 10-minute solution to a problem and then perform it six weeks later.

There are seven people in each team and students must abide by several rules before and after their performances.

For example students can only perform in a three-metre squared area and all costumes must be made from recycled materials.

The program is designed to encourage students to develop their co-operative problem-solving skills, along with creative and critical thinking.

HVGS facilitator Derek Fisher said the TOM program challenges students’ dramatic skills because they have to be creative about how they physically use the space as well as working in a team.

“The heart of the tournament is how creatively a team can decipher the problem,” Mr Fisher said.

This year’s language and literature team features Shakespeare’s historic characters and writers throughout history and the roles they play in society.

“I reckon it is a great opportunity to write, create and perform a play with new people every year.

“Creating a play from scratch is a fabulous experience,” Language and Literature TOM competitor Year 10 student Cassie Whittem said.