CELEBRATE THE MAGIC OF MIDSUMMER WITH THE RSC
In this 400th anniversary year, the RSC celebrates what was believed to be the most magical time of the year in Shakespeare’s day - Midsummer. Long regarded as a magical time when the portal between our world and the world of the fairies opened up allowing spirits to cause mischief and mayhem, the RSC is collaborating with Slung Low to create a unique event in the theatre gardens. Inspired by events such as Robert Dudley’s spectacular 19 day festival in 1575 in honour of Elizabeth I, the ‘pop up’ camp hosting free public activities opens on Sunday 19 June in the Avonbank Gardens; open all day through until Saturday 25 June.
Slung Low, who create theatrical adventures for audiences in unexpected spaces, have been commissioned by the RSC, working together with Rash Dash, the School of Night and a group of artists, to create a ‘Fairy Portal Camp’. Within this camp, audiences can take part in free activities including willow-work, poetry classes, improvisation, cooking, costume making, singing, dance classes and writing workshops – as everyone joins together to celebrate the return of the RSC’s touring production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and this very magical summer moment.
The Fairy Portal Camp also includes regular silent disco ‘fairy raves’ around the bonfire, and a chance to help cook dinner for everyone present and watch that evening’s performance under the trees. Celebrations culminate on Saturday 25 June with the attempt to ‘open the portal’ between the two worlds with a theatrical immersive ceremony of feast, fire and song - complete with mechanical dolphins travelling down the River Avon.
Alan Lane, Director of Slung Low said: ‘We’ve been set some pretty big challenges in our time but trying to open the doorway between this world and the fairy one is the biggest yet. We all know there’s magic in the words of Shakespeare and the worlds he created. We’re looking forward to combining that with the special power that comes from eating, singing and dreaming together at the very moment of midsummer. Whoever comes to the Camp, whenever they come, will be welcome. We’ll need all the help we can get to open the portal.’
All events are free. Tickets for the Ceremony on Saturday 25 June are bookable via the RSC ticket hotline on 01789 403493 and www.rs.org.uk/fairyportalcamp Tickets available now. For all other events, there is no need to book.
To continue the summer celebrations through June and July, the RSC has also teamed up with leading musicians from across the region to present a series of free mini-concerts responding to the themes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Performed in the Swan Gardens and in the foyer of the The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon between 5 June – 16 July; acts include Coventry guitarist and songwriter Kirsty Gallacher, ex-Bellowhead guitarist Benji Kirkpatrick and Derek Nisbet of Coventry-based theatre company Talking Birds.
For more information visit www.rsc.org.uk/events/midsummer-music
Press Contact information
For further information, please contact Amy.belson@rsc.org.uk on 01789 412622 or Philippa.harland@rsc.org.uk on 020 7845 0512
Images for media use
Media can download high res images of the playwrights by registering at www.rsc.org.uk/press-images
Notes to editors
FAIRY PORTAL CAMP SCHEDULE:
Sunday 19 June
From 7pm, the public is invited to welcome Slung Low, Rash Dash, The School of Night and the artists taking up residence on the site of the Fairy Portal Camp.
Monday 20 – Friday 24 June
- The Camp, 11am - 5pm Everyone can drop by the camp during the day and join activities including willow-work, poetry classes, band jam, improvisation, cooking, costume making, singing, dance classes and writing workshops.
- Rash Dash Fairy Rave, 5.30 - 6.30pm Part dance class, part physical abandon. The public is invited to come and dance with Rash Dash around the bonfire. Dance hard and recover by staying for dinner with us. If dancing isn’t your thing, come and help us cook dinner.
- Camp Dinner, 7pm Come dine with the company. Each night they'll serve a home-made dinner to all comers. Over dinner discuss ideas for the Ceremony, chat fairies with the gang or just enjoy the food.
- Evening Performance, 8pm Each night after dinner the company will perform under the trees. Part cabaret, part development for the ceremony on Saturday night, each evening will be different. Featuring song, dance, drama, poetry and a mechanical dolphin.
Saturday 25 June – The Ceremony
All week work will take place on creating the ceremony, starting at 8pm. Prior to this everyone is welcome to join the final Rash Dash Fairy Rave at 6.30pm.
The Ceremony begins with a feast, and goes on until the very pitch black moment of midsummer.
FREE RSC MIDSUMMER MUSIC ON WEEKENDS THROUGHOUT JUNE AND JULY
Amit Dattani and Dreams
Saturday 5 June, 1-3pm, Swan Gardens
Peacock Angell and Magic
Sunday 12 June, 1-3pm, Swan Gardens
Benji Kirkpatrick and Nature
Saturday 18 June, 5.30pm-7pm, Swan Gardens
Derek Nisbet and Love
Sunday 26 June, 1pm-3pm, Swan Gardens
Alima and Rochaé and Disorder
Saturday 2 July, 5.30pm-7pm, The Other Place, Foyer
Kristy Gallacher and Contrast
Saturday 16 July, 5.30pm-7pm, The Other Place, Foyer
Slung Low is a company that makes unlikely, ambitious and original adventures for audiences outside of conventional theatre spaces. Shows that re-examine how audiences go and see a piece of theatre. Their ambition is to transport an audience to new places and to make them see familiar places from new perspectives. Slung Low’s home is the Holbeck Underground Ballroom (The HUB) in Holbeck South Leeds.
Rash Dash
Rash as in reckless. Dash as in fast. A company that blend music, dance and theatre to speak to an audience in the most rich, delicious, complex way. They were formed by Abbi Greenland and Helen Goalen at the University of Hull in 2009.
The School of Night is a collection of hard bardics, extemporisers, originally convened by the late, great Ken Campbell. The company’s theatrical shows are an eccentric night of literary and theatrical celebration.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation
RSC Deputy Artistic Director, Erica Whyman, directs 18 professional actors with local amateur groups as Shakespeare’s Mechanicals. After a tour of all regions and nations of the UK, the production returns to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST), where all 14 amateur companies that have taken part around the UK, will get the chance to perform on the RST stage. This is an arrangement developed between the RSC and Equity.
