The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced the 14 amateur theatre groups who will play the Mechanicals alongside a company of professional actors when A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation goes on a national tour.
Led by deputy artistic director Erica Whyman, the RSC’s creative team has travelled 2,360 miles to audition 586 amateur theatre makers in 95 workshops. Each group represents a region or nation of the UK.
The RSC will work with 13 theatres, 84 amateur actors and 580 schoolchildren on the tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation. In each area, amateur theatre companies will play the Mechanicals, with Titania’s fairy train played by schoolchildren.
The production opens at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford in February 2016 and returns in June after the tour.
The amateur companies chosen are:
- West Midlands: The Nonentities from Kidderminster and The Bear Pit from Stratford
- North east: Castle Players from County Durham and People’s Theatre from Newcastle
- Scotland: Citizens Dream Players from Glasgow
- North west: Poulton Drama from Blackpool
- Yorkshire: Leeds Arts Centre from Leeds, performing in Bradford
- South east: Canterbury Players from Canterbury
- East of England: the Common Lot from Norfolk
- East Midlands: Lovelace Theatre Group from Hucknall, performing in Nottingham
- South west: Carnon Downs Drama Group from Truro
- London: Tower Theatre from East London
- Wales: Everyman Theatre from Cardiff
- Northern Ireland: Belvoir Players from Belfast
Erica Whyman, who will direct A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation, said, “it’s been a thrill and a privilege to meet so many talented and dedicated amateur actors from all over the United Kingdom.
“We have cast people from all kinds of backgrounds, with a wonderful range of voices, shapes and sizes, but every single one of them has already demonstrated tremendous courage, skill and hard work to have survived the audition process and be selected to star in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
“They have done this while holding down a huge range of demanding jobs in the daytime. These first steps in creating a true play for a nation have been inspiring, humbling and very refreshing.
“Theatre is alive and well and practised with infectious enthusiasm and impressive talent right across the country, and Shakespeare’s magical comedy has proved to be a very affectionate and fitting way to celebrate amateur actors everywhere.”
The BBC will capture all the action in The Best Bottoms in the Land which will follow the RSC’s journey during its tour. Nine regional programmes will be produced. The 30-minute documentaries will show the pressures and pitfalls of such a project, culminating in the opening night of each region’s performance. The series will air on BBC1 in spring 2016.
Further information about the tour and the amateur companies is available at the RSC web site.