This play was created as part of the Associate Schools Programme, which is a partnership between schools and the RSC. The above edition was published to coincide with the Playmaking Festival at the RSC in July 2023. It was also written in honour of the 400th anniversary of the First Folio. After Shakespeare's death, some of his friends and colleagues, mainly John Heminges and Henry Condell, brought the plays together and published them as an act of friendship, so that the works would not be lost.
The Wood of Words was first presented as part of the RSC's National and Stratford Playmaking Festivals at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon on 11 and 14 July 2023.
It comprises seven chapters, which are like seven scenes. There was a different cast for each chapter and different casts for the two performances; the text therefore can reach a large number of people who want to perform, and it can introduce many young people to Shakespeare in a way that allows them to have a taste of the language, the characters, the themes and settings without seeing a play in its entirety. It uses music involving guitars, percussion and keyboard – if available.
The stage directions clearly state that there can be between two and 14 Newcomers on stage. These chorus-like characters have been seeking sanctuary and have found it in the forest. The Newcomers share the lines of the prologue and epilogue and are on stage throughout the play; they observe and comment on the action as they experience the seven scenes. A teacher could match these snippets to well-known Shakespeare scenes to help bulk out the text to include a larger number of students.
The scenes can be taken independently, or the entire play can be used by one or more classes. The play suits a Shakespeare Festival, where seven casts could be employed.
The play is an effective way to introduce a class to Shakespeare. The chapters are short enough to prepare as extracts, which can be entered for festivals. It will be up to the director to make the links between the chapters clear to the audience if the whole play is subsequently performed.