Ealing Students Enjoy Free Shakespeare

Free tickets for The Taming of The Shrew for local schools

Pupils from Ealing schools including Ellen Wilkinson, Northolt High and Ealing Fields are getting the chance to see a Shakespeare play performed at The Globe theatre - for free.

Over 400 students are heading to Bankside this month for Globe Education’s production of The Taming of the Shrew, running until 25 March as part of the 2017 Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank.

The productions, performed by Globe actors in the Globe theatre, are created with 11 to 18 year olds in mind. They retain Shakespeare’s text, edited to around 100-minutes, and vividly explore character and issues which are just as relevant to young people today as when Shakespeare first wrote the works.

Perceptions of gender and relationship stereotyping have changed significantly in the 400 years since Shakespeare wrote the play.

Director, Jacqueline Defferary, observes ''‘People describe Shrew as a problem play; I see it as a perfect opportunity to explore pressing issues surrounding gender and relationships – important for us all, especially young people. The play highlights how far we have come and how far we still have to go. This is where the problems lie, we can’t shy away from them.'' 

Since 2007 Globe Education and Deutsche Bank’s partnership has given 150,000 free tickets to state school students to see a performance at the Globe. For many of them it will have been their first experience of live theatre, let alone Shakespeare.

Alongside the production Globe Education runs student workshops and continuing professional development (CPD) for teachers, as well as providing award-winning free online resources for students and teachers that support the GCSE and A Level curricula.

Patrick Spottiswoode, Director Globe Education, says: ‘Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank has offered over £2m worth of free tickets to every state secondary school in London and Birmingham.  But the real success is that the project is introducing students to Shakespeare and his plays as Shakespeare intended – through the power of play.   One student was overheard leaving the theatre saying ‘I knew I didn’t like Shakespeare. Now I know I was wrong’ – an endorsement of everything Playing Shakespeare sets out to do.’

Weekday performances of The Taming of the Shrew until 15 March are reserved, free for state schools from London and Birmingham. For more information and how to book other performances, including Saturdays to the end of March: http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/education/teachers/playing-shakespeare/family-performances

8th March 2017