The Royal Shakespeare Company’s outdoor theatre in Stratford, The Dell, will welcome a range of student, community and semi-professional productions at weekends during the summer.
Performances start on Saturday (8 June) with Elart Productions presenting All the World’s a Stage at 12 noon and 3PM.
This is a series of extracts from Shakespeare’s plays including Henry V and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. All the scenes will be linked by a modern narrative and will be performed by an all-male cast.
On Sunday (9 June, 12 noon and 3PM) Educactus Theatre Company from Aberystwyth will stage Macbeth.
Warrington Collegiate “pushes the boundaries of where Shakespearean text can go” in Romeo and Juliet which will be performed by a mixture of dancers and actors on Saturday and Sunday, 15 and 16 June at 12 noon.
On the same days, at 3PM, Combat Veteran players—comprising veterans from all the Armed Forces—will present Henry V.
GB Theatre Company will perform a 90-minute version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Saturday 22 June at 3PM.
The Shakespeare Young Company, based at Playbox Theatre in Warwick, brings a “sparkling new response” to Shakespeare’s first published work, the poem Venus and Adonis, at 12 noon and 3PM on Saturday and Sunday, 29 and 30 June.
Pupils from Honley High School, Huddersfield will retell Romeo and Juliet in their own, docu-drama style at 12 noon and 3PM on Saturday 6 July.
The following day Midsummer Madness Theatre Company will present Twelfth Night, devised by Staging Shakespeare students from the University of Exeter, at 12 and 3PM.
On Saturday and Sunday, 13 and 14 July, Ripped Script Theatre Company will visit the Dell with As You Like It.
Twelfth Night gets another outing, this time presented by Play the Fool Productions, on Saturday and Sunday, 20 and 21 July, at 12 and 3PM.
Gloucestershire Youth Players finds there’s Much Ado About Nothing at 11AM and 3:30PM on Saturday 27 July and at 11AM on Sunday 28 July. At 3PM on Sunday, Collingwood Random Salad Company will tackle Henry V.
Shooting Stars Theatre Company is the next to feature A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at 12 and 3PM on Saturday and Sunday, 3 and 4 August.
Characters from Macbeth will be questioned in a Hercules Poirot style by a central character, Detective Arden, in A Royal Murder, presented by Shakespeare Live, at 12 and 3PM on Saturday 10 August.
York Shakespeare Project stages a modern-day production of Hamlet at 1PM on Sunday 11 August while The HandleBards will perform Twelfth Night at 4PM on the same day.
The King’s Troupe will use stick-whirling, clog dancing and live music in Richard III at 1PM on Saturday and Sunday, 17 and 18 August while at 4PM on the Sunday, Oxford University Dramatic Society and Thelma Holt will stage The Comedy of Errors.
The same play gets the BMH Productions treatment at 12 and 3PM on Saturday and Sunday, 24 and 25 August.
Titian Repertory Theatre Company brings the season to a close with Macbeth at 12 and 3PM on Saturday and Sunday, 31 August and 1 September.
The Dell is on the banks of the River Avon in Avonbank Gardens, near Holy Trinity Church. Entrance is free.
Further details are available at www.rsc.org.uk/thedell.