Grassroots Shakespeare London

Grassroots Shakespeare London is a British theatre company based in London, UK. The company specialises in producing accessible works of William Shakespeare inspired by using Elizabethan original theatre practices.

Company history

Grassroots Shakespeare London was established in London in 2011.

The company's first production was A Midsummer Night's Dream,[1] which performed in Hyde Park and Victoria Embankment Gardens.[2] In December 2011, they performed The Merry Wives of Windsor at the New Red Lion Theatre and in 2012, they launched the theatre festival at The Scoop at More London with Much Ado About Nothing during HM The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.[3] This production also played at the Dell Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company as part of the World Shakespeare Festival 2012.[2]

In August 2012 they devised a new production of Much Ado About Nothing for their summer residency at Victoria Embankment Gardens and were nominated by the Off West End Theatre Awards for Best Ensemble and Best Production.[4] They also received recommendations from London newspaper The Evening Standard[5] and Time Out.[6]

In December 2012 to January 2013, the company performed a repertory season of A Midsummer Night's Dream[7] and The Tempest.[8] In 2013, the company presented a 'Summer of Love' repertory season of Love's Labour's Lost[9] and Romeo and Juliet[10] in Islington at the Old Red Lion Theatre.[11]

In 2014 a sold out production of Othello was presented at the Leicester Square Theatre starring BBC actor James Alexandrou as Iago and Ian Charleson Award nominee Nari Blair-Mangat as Othello.[12] They were the only company to be performing Shakespeare in London's West End for the 450th birthday celebrations, which also saw them perform with actor Damian Lewis at London's Guildhall.[13] Rehearsals were recorded by BBC World Service and James Alexandrou's performance as Iago featured in their programme The Why Factor.[14]

In 2016 the company was announced as the first ever resident theatre company at Leicester Square Theatre in London's West End.[15] As part of Shakespeare 400, Grassroots performed Twelfth Night, starring Ellie Nunn as Viola and John Pickard as Sir Toby Belch throughout April - May 2016.[16] They additionally produced a 14-hour live 'Dawn til Dusk' broadcast in association with the live-streaming app Periscope, Twitter and GoPro, which saw the company gain over 700,000 views on Twitter alone.[17] In May 2016, the company performed speeches with Simon Russell Beale at Guildhall and subsequently viewed the 1623 First Folio, held at Guildhall Library, one of the top 5 quality editions left remaining in the world.[18]

The company's Artistic Director and Executive Producer is Siobhán Daly.

Notes and references

References

  1. ↑ Loxton 2013a.
  2. 1 2 RSC 2012.
  3. ↑ Daly 2013.
  4. ↑ offwestend.com 2013.
  5. ↑ Evening Standard 2012.
  6. ↑ Time Out 2012.
  7. ↑ Ferris 2013.
  8. ↑ Dalglish 2012.
  9. ↑ Partridge 2013a.
  10. ↑ Partridge 2013b.
  11. ↑ Loxton 2013b.
  12. ↑ Denham 2014.
  13. ↑ Leyfield 2014.
  14. ↑ Why Factor 2014.
  15. ↑ "Grassroots Shakespeare London takes residency at Leicester Square Theatre". www.thestage.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  16. ↑ "Grassroots Shakespeare London takes residency at Leicester Square Theatre". www.thestage.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  17. ↑ "Is this an emoji I see before me? Twitter plays its part in #Shakespeare400 | Twitter Blogs". blog.twitter.com. Retrieved 2016-05-21.
  18. ↑ Desk, BWW News. "Photo Flash: Simon Russell Beale Celebrates Shakespeare 400 with Grassroots Shakespeare at Guildhall". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2016-05-21.

Sources

  • Daly, Siobhan (13 June 2013). "Guest Blog: A Summer of Love with Grassroots Shakespeare London". West End Frame. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  • Loxton, Howard (2013a). "A Midsummer Night's Dream". British Theatre Guide.
  • "Listings for 2012 at The Dell". The Royal Shakespeare Company. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  • "THE 2012 FINALISTS NOMINATED FOR THE OFFIE AWARDS". offwestend.com. 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  • "Tonight's ticket: Five things to do for free". The Evening Standard. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  • "The Tempest". Time Out. 5 December 2012.
  • Ferris, Natalie (7 January 2013). "No-nonsense approach to the Bard: A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre". One Stop Arts. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  • Dalglish, Darren (10 September 2012). "Grassroots Shakespeare rep at Lion & Unicorn". The London Theatre Guide. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  • Partridge, Matthew (22 June 2013a). "Unique approach to Shakespeare backfires". remotegoat.com. Blue Compass. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  • Partridge, Matthew (4 July 2013b). "Shows the comedy within play". remotegoat.com. Blue Compass. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  • Loxton, Howard (25 June 2013b). "Doing Without a Director – That's Grassroots Shakespeare's Choice". British Theatre Guide. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  • Denham, Jess (25 March 2014). "EastEnders' James Alexandrou to play Iago in Shakespeare's Othello". The Independent.
  • Leyfield, James (23 April 2014). "'He was playful and versatile with words': Damian Lewis praises William Shakespeare as he reads the poet's first five sonnets at an event to mark his 450th birthday". Mail Online. Associated Newspapers.
  • "The Why Factor". BBC World Service. 28 March 2014.


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