STRATFORD SCHOOLS WORK WITH THE RSC TO CREATE PROMENADE PRODUCTION OF JULIUS CAESAR
Stratford Schools’ Festival: Julius Caesar promenade performance project
400 schoolchildren, aged between 7-17, from 12 schools from Stratford-upon-Avon, along with Stratford-upon-Avon College, are working with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) to create a promenade production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
Performances will take place on Wednesday 28, Thursday 29 and Friday 30 June, with three shows a day at 10am, 1pm and 4pm. Each day a different group of five schools will take part. The play will be edited but performed using the original Shakespearean text, and each school will be responsible for one of five sections. A list of the schools taking part is at the end of the release.
During each performance the audience will be taken on a journey through Stratford, starting on the Bancroft Gardens outside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST), and then moving to Shakespeare’s Guildhall & Schoolroom; Shakespeare’s New Place; the Town Hall Ballroom; Weston Square outside the RST; and finally The Studio Theatre at The Other Place.
Earlier this year teachers from all the schools took part in two training days with the RSC. Rehearsals, which will initially be in the schools themselves, start at the end of April, continuing into May and June, with final run-throughs happening in the venues where the public performances will take place. The schools are supported by an RSC Director Mentor who will spend three days in each school.
The students involved in the project are being encouraged to see the RSC’s current mainstage production of Julius Caesar, part of the RSC’s Rome season of plays, and some pupils will also perform live music to accompany the performances.
Georgia Munnion, RSC Education Programme Manager said: “To build and strengthen our ongoing partnerships with both students and teachers within Stratford-upon-Avon, we constantly make sure that schools are integrated into our season’s programming. As a way of doing this we invite teachers and students to take part in various events or festivals. We are delighted to be working with local schools and venues on the Stratford Schools’ Festival: Julius Caesar promenade performance project, which has provided us with the perfect opportunity to use live performance to explore the power of Shakespeare’s language and use of rhetoric with young people.”
Tickets cost £3 and are on sale now from the RSC Box Office on 01789 403493. Tickets are not available online.
This project is supported by THE SAINTBURY TRUST and THE OAKLEY CHARITABLE TRUST
For more press information please contact:
Dean Asker, RSC Press and Communications Officer
01789 412660, 0778 9937759, dean.asker@rsc.org.uk
Notes to editors
The schools taking part are:
Stratford-upon-Avon School, Welcombe Hills School, Thomas Jolyffe Primary School, Bishopton Primary School, Stratford Girls’ Grammar School, Bridgetown Primary School, St Gregory’s Catholic Primary School, Alveston C of E Primary School, King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon Primary School, Shottery St Andrew’s C of E Primary School and The Willows C of E Primary School.
The route is fully accessible, but please be aware that it is a promenade performance and therefore the audience will need to move to different locations around the town. For the majority of the performance there will be opportunities for audience members to sit down. However, there are certain points along the route where audience members will need to stand for a short period of time.
The RSC Rome season of four Shakespeare plays, running in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, comprises Julius Caesar (until 9 September), Antony & Cleopatra (until 7 September), Titus Andronicus (23 June – 2 September) and Coriolanus (15 September – 14 October). www.rsc.org.uk/rome
