The Bard virtually lives on in performances from RSC
An exciting New Year is awaiting theatre audiences as the Royal Shakespeare Company has announced new live-streamed events for January 2021 at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
The first virtual offering is Swingin’ the Dream. A concert of a work in progress from the Royal Shakespeare Company with the Young
Vic and New York’s Theatre for a New Audience, including original music and songs from the 1939 production by Gilbert Seldes and Erik Charell, it is presented by Kwame Kwei-Armah.
Young Bloods is a dynamic celebration of Shakespeare’s younger characters curated by members of the RSC’s Next Generation Act Company and Youth Advisory Board.
And the third online production is Michael Morpurgo’s Tales for Shakespeare – weekly re-tellings of Shakespeare’s timeless stories streamed free to schools in January.
First performed at The Center Theatre, Broadway in 1939, Gilbert Seldes and Erik Charell’s jazz-infused version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Swingin’ the Dream – is widely regarded as one of the most ambitious and intriguing Broadway musical adaptations of Shakespeare ever.
Relocating Shakespeare’s comedy from 16th Century Athens to 1890s New Orleans, Erik Charell’s pioneering production combined original music with popular jazz standards from the great American songbook including Ain’t Misbehavin’, Blue Moon, St Louis Blues and Darn That Dream.
Presented by Kwame Kwei-Armah, the show will feature a selection of original songs from the production.
The concert performance will be streamed live from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on January 9 at 7pm.
Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic said: “The fact that this production of Swingin’ the Dream existed, and that the manuscript has since disappeared and has never been found, simply intrigues me.”
Bringing the Tales for
Winter season to a close on January 16, Young Bloods will put power into the hands of young people as members of the Next Generation Act Company and Youth Advisory Board take up the role of RSC artistic directors.
Directed by Tinuke Craig, Young Bloods will see the RSC Acting Company perform extracts from Shakespeare’s plays selected by young people which showcase the voices, priorities and experiences which resonate for them today.
Young Bloods will be streamed live from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on January 16 at 7pm.
Finally, as young people and teachers continue to adapt to new ways of teaching and learning as a result of COVID-19, the RSC will join forces with celebrated author Michael Morpurgo, to present a new series of weekly online Tales from
Shakespeare running for a five-week period.
The series launched on January 6, the day of Twelfth Night itself, with a celebratory reading by Michael Morpurgo, who shared his contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s funny and touching tale of the same name alongside performed scenes from the play.
Tales from Shakespeare will be streamed free into UK schools at 11am each Friday for a five-week period.
The recordings will then be available on-demand for a three-month period for all schools that register.
Each event will then be available from 11am the following Monday for families to watch online on-demand for seven days at a cost of £5 per family.
For more information visit www.rsc.org.uk/education/schools-broadcasts website.