William Shakespeare was an awfully good storyteller, but he gets short shrift in Hong Kong, say some dramatists, because his work is seen as classic and not up with the times.

Not so, says Shakespeare 4 All Hong Kong, which was set up five years ago to introduce Shakespeare to children aged from six to 16 who take part in annual plays. The group, whose founder sponsor is Swire Properties, is staging this weekend The Taming of the Shrew - the story of how a nobleman bends an outspoken, intelligent and bad-tempered wife to his will.

Misogynist elements aside, it's a fun tale that brings English to Hong Kong children and also teaches them self-confidence and discipline on stage. These are elements they don't always get in a learn-by-rote classroom where they are fed information, says producer Lynn Yau Foon-chi. 'Hong Kong shows very few classics, but drama is very good for teaching English fluency and self-confidence, even in the small parts. Children are too much in the comfort zone materialistically, and intellectually they receive too much information fed to them by their teachers.'