During 2016, Birmingham Royal Ballet will perform seven different ballets in ten UK theatres inspired by Shakespeare’s stories, characters and prose to commemorate 400 years since the playwright’s death, including two world premières and two pieces new to the company.
On Saturday 23 April, two of BRB’s Principal Dancers, Elisha Willis and Tyrone Singleton, will perform an excerpt from David Bintley’s The Shakespeare Suite at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the Othello pas de deux, to a swinging Duke Ellington score, played by the Midlands Youth Jazz Orchestra.
The performance in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon will be given in front of an invited audience, which will include HRH the Prince of Wales, who is President of both Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.
David Tennant and Catherine Tate will host the show, joined by performers including Judi Dench, Rufus Wainwright, Ian McKellen, Joseph Fiennes, Helen Mirren, Gregory Porter and Benedict Cumberbatch.
The show, assembled and directed by RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran, will be broadcast on BBC2 at 8:30PM on Saturday 23 April. It will also be screened live to 368 cinemas in the UK and Europe by Picturehouse Entertainment.