Young People’s Shakespeare production of King Lear on tour in schools and theatres
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s new production of King Lear for young people has begun touring in schools and theatres across the UK. The Young People’s Shakespeare (YPS) production is an edited and accessible version of the play, lasting 75 minutes, directed by Tim Crouch and featuring Paul Copley as King Lear.
The tour aims to bring the excitement of a live performance of a Shakespeare play to schools, families and young audiences with the least access to Shakespeare and the RSC. It forms part of the RSC’s Learning and Performance Network, funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Arts programme. The network is a partnership programme with theatres and their local schools that aims to change the way young people experience and engage with Shakespeare. It provides a professional development scheme for teachers, RSC company members and regional theatre staff to train in active approaches to teaching Shakespeare.
The play opened on 11 September and is on tour until 1 December. The production will travel to theatres and state schools in Southampton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Truro, Hull, York, Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon. The production will also go to the USA with performances in Ohio and New York, and be filmed for distribution to all 1,700 New York City schools by New York City’s Department of Education.
Director Tim Crouch said, “With the RSC’s Young People’s Shakespeare, the audience is the focus; they guide my hand with the edit and our work in rehearsal. It’s a privilege for me to repay their influence with one of the greatest plays ever written. In theatre, not much compares to introducing a Shakespeare play to an audience who have never seen Shakespeare before.”
Tim continued: “The story of Lear doesn’t belong in an excluding world of adults and academics. It is raw and immediate and true. In the 75 minutes of this production, we go to the heart of two families in crisis, of child against father, sibling against sibling. As my YPS production of The Taming of the Shrew proved last year – young people live in a world of great light and shade and can understand that complexity. Our job with YPS Lear is to guide our audience through Shakespeare’s story with care and respect and to share with them the possibilities of live theatre.”
In 2009, PHF awarded £180,000 over 37 months to the Royal Shakespeare Company for the development of the Learning and Performance Network. A new grant of £320,000 over four years has been awarded in 2012 for the continuation of the programme.
The RSC in America is supported by the Thompson Family Foundation, the Sidney E. Frank Foundation and members of the RSC’s US Advisory Council.