26 May 2006
STRATFORD BECKONS AS SDC ACCEPTS INVITATION TO PERFORM IN SHAKESPEARE’S BIRTHPLACE
The Shropshire Drama Company has been offered the chance to perform their forthcoming All’s Well That Ends Well production in Stratford as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) Complete Works Festival.
In April, the RSC began their ambitious new season in which they are scheduled to perform all of Shakespeare’s plays and poems over the next fifteen months or so. As well as the RSC itself, companies from around the world and many from the UK will be performing at various venues in Stratford-upon-Avon. The Festival is to mark the revamping of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre site after many years of planning.
As part of this festival, the RSC are erecting an outdoor stage in the Shakespeare Memorial Gardens between the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Holy Trinity Church, the place of Shakespeare’s baptism and his burial. This temporary outdoor theatre will be called The Dell and the RSC have invited applications from performers and theatre groups to perform on this stage during the summer. The Shropshire Drama Company have been accepted to take their production of the little-performed, All’s Well That Ends Well for two performances to Stratford on 25th June, 2006 following its run at the Much Wenlock Festival from 12th to 17th June.
Co-director, Ken Allden says, “This is a great honour and marvellous opportunity for the Shropshire Drama Company to show its mettle in a wider field. We are all extremely excited by the prospect of performing at Stratford within hailing distance of the Bard’s resting place, and of making a contribution to the fantastic Complete Works Festival alongside many of this country’s theatre greats and terrific performers from across the world. We feel proud that our efforts to develop the Company (formerly The Shropshire County Drama Group) towards greater standards of professionalism and high production values can be marked in this way. We hope that many in Shropshire will feel proud, too, that we shall be flying the flag for the County at this prestigious event and that as many Shropshire people as possible will make it to Stratford on 25th June to enjoy the performance and give us their support. We hope to be delivering two complete performances, starting at lunchtime. Precise times will be confirmed after negotiations with the RSC.”
Tickets for All’s Well That Ends Well at Holy Trinity Church Green (Much Wenlock) from 12 to 17 June are priced at £10 (£8 concessions) Monday to Thursday, £12 Friday (no concessions) and £14 Saturday (no concessions) and available through the website at www.muchwenlockfestival.co.uk .
Pictured (left to right): Sonia Knight and Ken Allden, co-directors of All’s Well That Ends Well.
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