Bardwatching: Spring Term 1 2021-22
Sarah Lambie
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
When it comes to the Bard, she's an inveterate twitcher. Sarah Lambie shares what she's spotted through her beady bardy binoculars.
CSSF
I am a foe to tyrants, and my country's friend …
Applications are open for The Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation (CSSF)'s ‘Off-Grid’ theatre project in rural primary schools in Yorkshire.
Four schools will have the opportunity to take part in CSSF's programme, which will enable students to perform Shakespeare productions and further their arts engagement.
Over two years, participating schools will receive curriculum resources, twilight CPD sessions for staff, a toolkit of exercises for the classroom and regular workshops for the school and local community led by a professional team; with the support of the Esmee Fairburn Foundation. Schools will have to pay a discounted fee of £400.
Primary schools based in North Yorkshire Moors or Yorkshire Dales are encouraged to contact CSSF at hello@coramshakespeareschools.org.uk or 020 7601 1800. The deadline for applications is the end of January 2022.
The eyes of men, after a well-graced actor leaves the stage, are idly bent on him that enters next …
On 15 January 2022, an immersive virtual event aimed those aged 14+ will take place on Zoom to transport students to Shakespeare's day.
Run by digital learning platform A Bit Lit, A Day Out At Shakespeare's Theatre is a new interactive online experience designed to give students an idea of what a trip to the theatre was like in the 1600s. The event will feature Simon Russell Beale, Emma Smith, and an improv troupe who will perform the play participants produce.
The two-hour experience will cover the sights, sounds and smells of a day in a theatre in Shakespeare's time. Actors will use sign language for D/deaf participants, with other features also planned to ensure inclusivity.
The live event marks the launch of a new online education platform for A Bit Lit, co-founded by theatre historian Andy Kesson and Jimmy Tucker, and stocked with pre-recorded videos.
© DAVID SURMAN
Tickets are £15 and are available via www.abitlit.co/
Trust not my reading, nor my observations, which with experimental seal do warrant the tenor of my book …
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has been granted Independent Research Organisation (IRO) status, which Erica Whyman, acting artistic director, says ‘will enable us to build on [existing research] and ensure the performing arts plays a critical role in setting and leading the research agenda alongside existing IROs'.
The company's first associate scholars have been announced – Professor Ayanna Thompson, Professor James Shapiro and Professor Emma Smith – who will guide, advise and inform the RSC's work, and a new research board will soon be appointed, chaired by Professor Thompson, to oversee the delivery of the new research strategy.
The new status, awarded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) – part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – echoes founder Peter Hall's vision for the RSC to be ‘a teaching and research centre’ for Shakespeare and performance, broadening their offering in teaching, training and learning. With the award, the RSC will conduct research into the role of immersive technologies in performance and diversity in the performing arts, among other areas.
Is there no play to ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
The Rose Theatre Trust has announced what it describes as ‘a bold, exciting vision to transform part of London's Bankside by making the site of The Rose Playhouse – the birthplace of English theatre – into a global centre of Elizabethan culture.
The Rose, which staged early productions of plays by Shakespeare, Jonson and Marlowe, is the only complete remaining site of a sixteenth century theatre on Bankside and is situated below an office block occupied by British advertising multinational, WPP. It was rediscovered during building work in 1989.
Original Chair of the Trust, Harvey Sheldon, is to be succeeded by Professor Kathy Dacre – previously the driving force behind the creation of the £30 million Shakespeare North Playhouse in Knowsley, Liverpool – joined by eight new trustees from diverse backgrounds.
Their challenge, as well as raising vital funds to continue preservation and exploration work, will be to transform the surrounding space into a flourishing venue for performances, exhibitions, community activities and links to local schools and colleges to promote Elizabethan theatre studies.
To learn more about the Rose Playhouse, go to https://roseplayhouse.org.uk
