Bespoke Shakespeare Workshops for Key Stage 2-5

Two-hour workshops in our Clore Learning Centre, on a Shakespeare play of your choice.

Stratford Joint Open day 2024_2024_Photo_ Sara Beaumont _c_ RSC_371161 — © RSC Browse and license our images

Bespoke Shakespeare Workshops

Ideal for: Key Stages 2-5

Date: Available Monday - Friday during Warwickshire term time

Time: Two-hour sessions starting at 10.30am, 1.30pm or 4pm

Venue: Clore Learning Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon

Cost: UK State Schools: £225*

UK Independent Schools: £375*

International school/ UK and International Universities: £525*

*We have three regular workshop spaces, which accommodate up to 33, 22 and 13 students respectively. The cost listed is for a single workshop in a single room. Bookings are subject to availability. Please see our FAQs page for more detail.

Our room capacities vary but our workshops fees are fixed due to our artist and resource costs - please speak to our Box Office team for room availability to find the best fit to your needs.

To book email learning.boxoffice@rsc.org.uk or call the Learning Hotline on 01789 331259 (midday-6pm, Monday – Friday, excluding Bank Holidays)

Large bookings: For groups wishing to bring more than 68 students across a single timeslot, please contact learning@rsc.org.uk directly for enquiries.

WORKSHOP DETAILS

The students will work as actors and directors on any Shakespeare play of your choice, or any RSC play from the upcoming season. Our workshops explore characters, scenes and themes using practical techniques from the RSC rehearsal room. All workshops are led by an RSC Associate Learning Practitioner – an actor, director or creative with experience of the RSC’s rehearsal room. Workshops last two hours and can be tailored to any class.

A typical workshop might involve:

Key Stage 2
An introduction to your chosen Shakespeare play through a combination of games, playful activities and performance. Exploring plot, character and Shakespeare’s language.

Our workshops can help students to:
- Improve reading comprehension and expand vocabulary
- Develop and express opinions
- Build confidence, including performance skills and public speaking
- Where requested, we can focus on creative writing: poetry, prose, and dramatic
Key Stage 3
Exploring the play as an RSC acting company. Workshops are a combination of text-based and practical ensemble work to gain a more advanced understanding of Shakespeare’s plays.

We can support your students to:
- Develop communication skills
- Form and express their own opinions
- Recognise and use formal, structural techniques in drama/poetry
- Analyse in detail intentions and themes
- Approach the texts as performance scripts
Key Stage 4
Workshops can be adapted to focus on English or Drama exam specifications, or as an enrichment activity for students.

We can support your students to:

English
- Advanced textual analysis: on theme, form, structure, character, and language
- Form opinions on and interpret Shakespeare’s work
- Understand historical context
Drama
- Study performance techniques used in staging Shakespeare
- Analyse productions, including how the RSC has recently approached your chosen text
- Study characters in depth, looking at how RSC actors work in a professional rehearsal room
Key Stage 5
Workshops are designed for English or Drama students - taking insights from the RSC production process and rehearsal room methodology to support written and practical exams.

We can support your students to:

English
- Engage with challenging subject matter in Shakespeare’s texts, and learning how to debate and evidence your views
- Explore key moments in the play, and how they are informed by choices of structure, language, and form
- Where appropriate, draw comparisons with other relevant texts from Shakespeare and the wider curriculum
Drama
- Advanced rehearsal room approaches, based on how professional RSC actors prepare for playing characters and rehearsing scenes
- Unlock performance choices including how direction and design influence a production
- Stage your own versions of key scenes and soliloquies, working as directors and performers in the RSC style

The BFG

During the run of our new production of The BFG we are delighted to be able to offer Bespoke Student Workshops. Explore our production of Roald Dahl’s The BFG with a combination of drama and literacy exercises at our Clore Learning Centre. Suitable for Key Stages 2 and 3 these workshops are fantastic for both enrichment, and literacy learning/drama practice.

Ideal for: Key Stage 2 and 3

Date: Available Monday - Friday 25 November 2025 - 31 January 2026

Time: Two-hour sessions starting at 10.30am, 1.30pm or 4pm

Venue: Clore Learning Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon

Cost: UK State Schools: £225*, UK Independent Schools: £375*

International school/ UK and International Universities: £525*

Please book using the process for all Bespoke Student Workshops. Performance tickets can be booked in addition to your workshop, ask our Box Office team for best availability.

Policies

Risk Assessments
Download our Clore Learning Centre Risk Assessment and download our School Groups Risk Assessment

Safeguarding
We uphold the principle that the welfare of children and adults at risk is paramount, and that all children and adults have the right to protection from abuse and neglect. Our Safeguarding Children Policy and Code of Conduct was established with advice from the NSPCC. See our safeguarding policies

The work of the RSC Creative Learning and Engagement team is supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, GRoW @ Annenberg, The Polonsky Foundation, The Thompson Family Charitable Trust and other generous supporters.