ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY TO ‘POP UP’ ON HIGH STREET
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) will be inviting Stratford locals to contribute their ideas about the town’s future in a brand-new ‘pop-up’ shop that will spring to life across the summer.
The shop, which opens on 27 July in the former Crabtree & Evelyn premises, will offer residents the opportunity to inspire I See the Future, an innovative community-created art project jointly commissioned by the RSC and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
There will be a special drop-in session from 2pm-4pm on the opening day hosted by Anagram, the award-winning female-led art collective who will bring I See the Future to the streets of Stratford-upon-Avon as part of the Garrick Jubilee celebrations in September. During the session, local people are invited to draw, talk about and imagine the future 100 years from now, whilst joining in with the dynamic discussion. The shop will remain open until 1 September for people to contribute to.
I See the Future marks the 250th anniversary of the first Shakespeare Jubilee in 1769 and establishment of the Shakespeare tourism industry. Stratford residents of all ages and backgrounds are invited to contribute their hopes, dreams and imaginings for the future of their town.
These ideas will then be realised across the Jubilee weekend from 6-8 September, when two giant pairs of binoculars will appear on Henley Street and in the Bancroft Gardens. The drawings and audio from the workshops are transformed into vibrant animations that play inside the binoculars over real-time footage of Stratford.
The shop will be open from 27 July to 1 September, closing at 5pm daily. Participation is free. The pop-up shop will also offer information about the RSC and sign-posting to other cultural attractions, a Box Office provision, and a select range of retail items.
It is supported by Arts Council England and Watershed's Creative Producers International, which is backed by British Council and the University of the West of England.
NOTES TO EDITORS
For more information about this press release please contact Emily Magdij:
Emily.magdij@rsc.org.uk
01789 412657
07920 541729
About The Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) creates theatre at its best, made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world. We produce an inspirational artistic programme each year, setting Shakespeare in context, alongside the work of his contemporaries and today’s writers.
Everyone at the RSC - from actors to armourers, musicians to technicians - plays a part in creating the world you see on stage. All our productions begin life at our Stratford workshops and theatres and we bring them to the widest possible audience through our touring, residencies, live broadcasts and online activity. So wherever you experience the RSC, you experience work made in Shakespeare’s home town.
We have trained generations of the very best theatre makers and we continue to nurture the talent of the future. We encourage everyone to enjoy a lifelong relationship with Shakespeare and live theatre. We reach 530,000 children and young people annually through our education work, transforming their experiences in the classroom, in performance and online. www.rsc.org.uk.
About the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is the independent charity that cares for the world’s greatest Shakespeare heritage in his home town of Stratford-upon-Avon. It is the global centre for learning about and experiencing the works, life and times of the world’s best-known writer. Through the five historic Shakespeare family homes (Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Shakespeare’s New Place, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Mary Arden’s Farm, Hall’s Croft), internationally designated museum, library and archive collections, award-winning learning programmes and digital channels, it provides imaginative, immersive and interactive opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to get up-close-and-personal with Shakespeare.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is a self-sustaining charity which generates its income through the support of visitors, donors, volunteers and Friends. In April 2018 it was granted National Portfolio funding from Arts Council England for the first time, enabling new creative and outreach programmes with a particular focus on communities which are currently less engaged in arts, culture and heritage. For more information, visit www.shakespeare.org.uk or follow us @ShakespeareBT.
About ANAGRAM
ANAGRAM is an award-winning company specialising in interactive storytelling and immersive experience design. Winners of the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival Storyscapes award for best innovative work and one of the #Createch100 for 2018, their work typically combines expertly crafted experiential storytelling that blends fiction and documentary, rigorous research, and an ingenious approach to integrating recently possible technologies into the heart of an experience. Work includes: recent festival hit The Collider that combines VR and theatre installation; multi award-winning interactive installation Door into the Dark; the VR experience telling the story of the Suffragettes Make Noise, commissioned by the BBC; and many interactive museum experiences, including Nightwatchers at the Tower of London and I Swear to Tell the Truth at Imperial War Museum. www.weareanagram.co.uk
About Creative Producers International
Creative Producers International is a global talent development programme led by Watershed, which is working with a group of fifteen exceptional Creative Producers from all over the world, encouraging a new kind of conversation with creative communities, citizens and city authorities, and helping them to become change makers in their cities.
The Creative Producers come from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines, and each bring their unique experience to the table. The result is a diverse group of people and cities who will influence, challenge and support each other, create new work and have sustainable routes for sharing their knowledge and innovation internationally. The programme expands the work and ethos of Playable City, which has been adopted across five continents and puts people and play at the heart of the future city.
Along with Arts Council England, British Council and the Research Team at UWE Bristol, the Creative Producers International explores how the arts sector is empowered to be at the heart of decision making, the role of the Producer in different cultural contexts and what play means to people around the world.
Arts Council England is the national development body for arts and culture across England, working to enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to visual art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. www.artscouncil.org.uk