I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow my own teaching …

The RSC has collaborated with Samsung to create a free Shakespeare learning resource called The Shakespeare Learning Zone. The comprehensive online resource combines RSC archives and expertise with Samsung technology and launches on 3 September, with more plays and supporting materials to be added each term. At launch, interactive content will be available relating to Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest, and will include production photographs, videos, behind the scenes footage and rehearsal materials, so that young actors can gain a sense of a professional's process.

Jacqui O'Hanlon, RSC director of education, has said: ‘We believe that all young people can enjoy and take ownership of Shakespeare's plays regardless of their age, background or perceived ability.

‘We wanted to create an online space that supports young people in their Shakespeare studies at any stage of their learning, from students who want to quickly access accurate information about the story to those who want to delve deeper into different interpretations of the plays. The site means we can share some of the skills and tools we use at the RSC to really get under the skin of the plays and understand the techniques and devices common in Shakespeare's work.

‘Our aim is to build young peoples' confidence and ultimately help them master Shakespeare so that even when faced with a scene or speech they haven't studied, they have the tools to unlock it.’

The resource can be found at rsc.org.uk/shakespeare-learning-zone

I do but beg a little changeling boy, to be my henchman …

First aired on Monday 6 August at 9pm, and available on BBC iPlayer, academic and children's author Katherine Rundell presents a BBC 4 documentary entitled Abducted: Elizabeth I's Child Actors, exploring the true story of a boy abducted from the streets of Elizabethan London at the order of an unscrupulous theatrical impresario, to be put on stage in the Blackfriars' company of child actors.

As the BBC's programme description explains: '13-year-old Thomas Clifton was walking to school on 13 December 1600, when he was violently kidnapped. And what's most extraordinary is that the men who took him claimed that they had legal authority to do so from Queen Elizabeth I herself. Children are so often missing from history, but this tale has survived by the skin of its teeth. This inventive film pieces together Thomas Clifton's story from contemporary accounts, court documents, plays and poetry, with the missing gaps beautifully illustrated by vivid hand-drawn animation.

The programme is worth watching as an insight into the system of ‘impressment’ which for many years provided, by a form of legal kidnap, young men for the navy, and boys for the choir of the Chapel Royal, among other duties considered to be ‘public service’.

Filming on the site of the Blackfriars, at Hampton Court Palace and the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse among other locations, the documentary's animations are a beautiful addition, and it is fascinating to catch glimpses of maps of Shakespeare's London. There is also brief reference to the Bard himself, who leased the Blackfriars Theatre for his company one winter.

The programme will be available to see on catch-up for 30 days from its first airing on 6 August. Go to bbc.co.uk/iplayer

An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too, I'll speak in a monstrous little voice …

A row erupted in Auckland, New Zealand, in July, over a pop-up Globe theatre which has cast all-male productions of Shakespeare plays and then used #MeToo in order to promote them. The BBC reported that founder Miles Gregory chose to adhere to the 16th-century tradition of all-male casting (a legitimate historical choice, though not, in my experience, the way to get the best out of the plays' human hearts) and then released a press release which remarked that ‘in the age of Weinstein, #MeToo and #TimesUp, it feels entirely right for us to reflect current conversations in the world through ambitious and thought-provoking programming.’

This decision is particularly bold given the fact that one of the two productions planned (alongside Richard III), is The Taming of the Shrew: already a problematic play where issues of gender equality are concerned. Female performers, artists and activists across New Zealand have condemned the theatre and called for boycotts and withdrawal of sponsorship.

Meanwhile, as reported by the BBC, Gregory has tweeted from the theatre's account his realisation that he had offended people ‘very deeply’. ‘We are a young organisation, we are learning, and we don't get everything right. It is clear that today we haven't. I've let you down.’