RSC CELEBRATES SHAKESPEARE’S BIRTHDAY WEEKEND WITH FREE ACTIVITIES FOR ALL
- The Play’s The Thing
- ثلاثة خيوط ذهبية / Three Gold Threads.
- Toast by Pif-Paf Theatre
- RSC Sensory Map
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is offering visitors to Stratford-upon-Avon a range of free activities to help celebrate Shakespeare’s Birthday on Saturday 22 April.
Reopening for the first time in three years will be the RSC’s permanent exhibition, The Play’s the Thing which has been co-curated with local community groups. Participants took part in workshops at the RSC Collection to select the items on display, including costumes worn by Judi Dench, Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh. The Play’s The Thing will also connect with a new community engagement project, ثلاثة خيوط ذهبية / Three Gold Threads.
Free family friendly activity will continue in the Swan Theatre Gardens between 12-1.30pm and 2.30-4.30pm with performances of TOAST by Pif-Paf Theatre, an energetic, ambitious, and communal celebration of food, song, story, dance and fire with storytelling from Ian Douglas. Visitors will also be invited to explore the new RSC Sensory Map which will encourage visitors to find out more about the heritage of the RSC’s buildings using their senses.
There will also be the chance to see the premiere of RSC Artistic Director Emeritus Gregory Doran’s new staging of William Shakespeare’s dark fairytale Cymbeline (7.15 pm) in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Cymbeline will mark Doran’s 50th production for the RSC. RSC Acting Artistic Director Erica Whyman’s production of Hamnet (7.30 pm) will also be showing in the newly reopened Swan Theatre.
Celebrations continue with Pragnell’s annual Shakespeare Birthday Lunch, hosted by Alexander Armstrong. This year the RSC and Pragnell have partnered together for an exclusive showcase performed during the lunch and directed by Roberta Zuric. This will be followed by the presentation of the annual Pragnell Shakespeare Birthday Award. The award celebrates individuals who have significantly furthered society’s understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the Shakespeare’s work and this year’s winner is RSC Artistic Director Emeritus Gregory Doran.
Prior to the Birthday Weekend, on Thursday 20 April, My Shakespeare: A Director’s Journey through the First Folio by Gregory Doran will be published.
The Play’s The Thing / ثلاثة خيوط ذهبية / Three Gold Threads
A FREE exhibition
The Play’s The Thing is the RSC’s permanent exhibition, comprising items from the RSC collection. Started by Charles Edward Flower in 1879, the RSC Collection is one of the most significant Shakespeare and theatre collections in the world. It contains material spanning from the 1600s to the present day and offers an insight into the history of performance, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. A highlight of the 2023 exhibition will be the First Folio, published 400 years ago in 1623, a literary icon and the preferred version of Shakespeare’s text preferred by many actors and directors.
Over the past year the RSC’s Creative Placemaking and Public Programmes team have been working with communities in Stratford-upon-Avon through collections workshops to co-curate the new exhibition. The Play’s The Thing is located in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre building. Entrance is free, and the exhibition will be open from 12noon daily, closing at 7.15pm (5pm on Sundays). No advance booking required.
The community groups that have worked with the RSC are the Goodwill and Growth for Africa (GAGA) Yarn Bombers, a network of local knitters and crocheters who support vulnerable people in marginalised communities in Africa and collaborate on yarn bombing (yarn-based graffiti) projects in the local area; Welcome Here, a support group for refugees new to the UK; and second-year fashion and make-up students at Stratford-upon-Avon College. Each group has selected items from the RSC Collection which will tell the story of performance in Stratford-upon-Avon through the eyes of its residents. This careful co-curation of costumes, fine art, props and sculpture will give an insight into how interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays have changed, and how theatrical and costume design have developed over time.
Items in the exhibition include: dress worn by Josette Simon as Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost (1984), costume worn by Lucien Msamati as Iago in Othello (2015), armour dress worn by Helen Mirren as Queen Margaret in Henry VI (1977), costume worn by John Gielgud as Prospero in The Tempest (1957), cap worn by Deborah Findlay as Olivia in Twelfth Night (1987), headdress worn by Mark Rylance as Ariel in The Tempest (1981) and a dress worn by Amara Khan as Hero in Much Ado About Nothing (2012).
In addition, on Saturday 22 April only, from 12-4pm each of the three community groups will have their own Community Inspiration Station located in and around the Swan Theatre. Visitors can get creative by making beaded jewellery with the Gaga Yarn Bombers, celebrate the start of Eid with Welcome Here by making lanterns to take home and learn how to design their dream costume or wildest fashion accessory with Stratford-upon-Avon College by using the RSC’s creative design sheets and fabric scraps from the Costume Department. Free, no booking required. Suitable for age 5+
In connection with the re-launch of The Play’s The Thing the RSC will also be presenting a new artwork, ثلاثة خيوط ذهبية / Three Gold Threads. The RSC’s Creative Placemaking and Public Programmes team has been working with artist and composer Liz Gre and 9 women, who are part of the refugee community and are supported by Welcome Here, to examine Shakespeare’s First Folio from the perspectives of refugees living in Stratford-upon-Avon today.
Through workshops, Liz Gre and the participants have co-created an artwork that aims to elevate stories by Black people, Indigenous people, and people from the global majority who have interacted with the First Folio throughout history. The project wants to redress the balance of who engages with Shakespeare’s stories, challenging public perceptions of cultural heritage and exploring how underrepresented communities have shaped British history.
Liz Gre said, “I wanted to use the First Folio to highlight the stories of people living near the RSC now, from everyday occurrences through to monumental stories of making a life in a new place.
“I hope the women who have co-created this work with me feel seen and feel connected with the place they now live, and that what we’ve produced honours and protects their words.”
The co-created artwork will be presented in The Play’s The Thing exhibition with the intention that it will inspire deeper thought regarding the First Folio.
FREE FAMILY ACTIVITY
Pif-Paf Theatre will present energetic live performances of TOAST, a mixture of songs, storytelling from Ian Douglas and recipes from around the world. Pif-Paf will entertain from onboard their ever-moving mobile kitchen. With performances featuring a mixture of song, food and drink, dance and some theatre, audiences should expect flying pancakes, singing, maybe some dancing, a bit of eating and drinking, laughing and lots of new friends.
RSC SENSORY MAP
The RSC will also present a brand-new sensory trail of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre co-created by artist Thomas Cross, the RSC Front of House team and Tour Guides, Ileap and Orchestra of the Swan Café Muse members. Through this collaboration, the RSC have created a menu of free, exciting, innovative, and surprising moments to do in the building, that will reveal insight into the heritage of the RSC. Visitors can ask a member of RSC staff where to collect their map from Saturday 22 April onwards.