First encounters for communities with RSC’s Tempest

Published: 9 October 2024
Reporter: Steve Orme

Shakespeare for children aged seven to 13: The Tempest
Mathew Baynton (Bottom) and Sirine Saba (Titania) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream Credit: Pamela Raith

Families, young people and communities will see the Royal Shakespeare Company perform in their town or city in 2025 when an 80-minute version of The Tempest tours the country.

Taking Shakespeare’s play into school halls, theatres and town halls across England, First Encounters: The Tempest is aimed at audiences aged from 7–13 and those seeing Shakespeare for the first time.

The show will open in Leamington Spa on Tuesday 4 February 2025 and will travel to RSC partner schools and theatres including in County Durham, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, York, Hull, Bradford, Stratford, Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Corby, Blackpool and Cumbria, culminating in Northampton on Saturday 10 May.

The creative team includes Aaron Parsons (director and movement), Aldo Vázquez (set and costume designer) and Jack Drewry (composer and sound designer). A team of RSC practitioners will work with young people in the lead-up to the tour to create soundscapes to underscore the production.

The RSC has also announced that schools will be able to sign up for on-demand access to its 2024 production A Midsummer Night’s Dream for one week in February 2025 as part of its free schools broadcast programme. Eleanor Rhode’s show with Mathew Baynton as Bottom will run at London’s Barbican Theatre from Tuesday 3 December until Saturday 18 January 2025.

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