This wide and universal theatre…
Registration has opened for the 2022-23 Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation's Theatre Festival – a UK-wide annual event in which students are given the opportunity to perform abridged Shakespeare plays in a professional theatre.
For the first time, and with the aim of extending the opportunity to a greater number of children and young people, the festival will be run across two terms, with performances in the Autumn of 2022 and Spring of 2023.
Staff from the Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation work with participating schools to provide creative and logistical support throughout the process, providing scripts tailored for primary, secondary and SEND schools; curriculum resources; a full-day in-person teacher Continued Professional Development (CPD) training session; ongoing teacher support from a dedicated programmes coordinator; and a half day in-school student workshop ahead of the professional theatre performance.
‘The theatre festival gives thousands of children and young people from every background, community and school type the opportunity to be creative, be inspired, and be together – things that children need more than ever right now,’ said Ruth Brock, managing director of CSSF, ‘From school refusers whose attendance soars, reluctant readers who seek out the full texts in their school library, to autistic young people who understand more about social interaction; we know the festival has the power to change lives every year.’
Fifteen-year-old Lauren attends a Pupil Referral Unit, having been excluded from mainstream education. ‘When I first started at this school, I was worried I wasn't going to get anywhere in life,’ she says, ‘I thought people would label me as having gone to a “naughty school”. Since then, I've come a long way. Taking part in Shakespeare Schools Festival has played a big part in that. When I switch into character, I feel like I can let my real emotions out. It helps me to find out who I am and escape my pain. I feel like I'm proving everybody wrong…I've realised that if there's something you want to do in life then there's a way to make it work.’
To sign up, go to http://www.shakespeareschools.org
So, on your patience evermore attending, new joy wait on you! Here our play has ending.
Artistic director Greg Doran has stepped down from his role at the RSC, after 10 years in his position, and 35 years of wider involvement with the company. As of 23 April, the search is underway for a new artistic director. Acting artistic director Erica Whyman will continue for the moment in the post she has held since Doran stood down temporarily in September of 2021 to care for his late husband the actor Antony Sher, who died in December.
Doran will continue as artistic director Emeritus until the end of 2023, directing his 50th production for the RSC in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre next year, as part of the 400th anniversary celebrations of Shakespeare's First Folio. He will also continue to work with RSC actors on voice and on verse.
Currently playing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, The Wars of the Roses is director Owen Horsley's production of the climax of Shakespeare's Henry VI trilogy. Never having seen Henry VI on stage, I went up to Stratford over the Easter weekend to do so, and was struck by what a clear and compelling rendition it is of this so complicated side-switching episode in English history. With excellent performances in particular from Mark Quartley as the hapless King Henry VI, Oliver Alvin-Wilson as York, and Arthur Hughes as Richard of Gloucester (soon to reprise the role as Richard III), while some aspects of the production worked better than others, it is without question an extremely accessible rendition of what is not one of Shakespeare's most accessible plays. In particular, Quartley's soliloquy in the second act is utterly compelling and very moving. I would recommend a visit to the RSC just to see that scene.
Meanwhile, the company has announced its winter season programme. For full details, go to www.rsc.org.uk
O, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise…
The former artistic director of Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol has published a book entitled Shakespeare on the Factory Floor, a Handbook for Actors, Directors and Designers, which is now available from Nick Hern Books.
Detailing the director's 18 years of experience mounting Shakespeare productions in Bristol, Andrew Hilton's book combines close textual analysis with practical insights, delving into such topics as emotional truth in the comedies, the importance of the plays’ social dynamics, the choice of settings and periods, making and withholding moral judgements, working with different versions of the texts, and even adapting them.
Nick Hern Books are currently offering a 20 per cent discount when you order direct from their website at www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/shakespeare-on-the-factory-floor