Rising stars gather at Shakespeare’s Globe for 2011 Sam Wanamaker Festival 21 March 2011
Rising stars from the UK’s leading drama schools will gather at Shakespeare’s Globe at 4.00pm on Sunday 3 April for the annual Sam Wanamaker Festival. The festival will include performances by two final year students from each of the UK’s twenty-two accredited drama schools, plus two students from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, who have spent their entire third year of study at Shakespeare’s Globe. The students will present a mix of tragical, historical, pastoral and comical duologues from plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries on the Globe stage to a full house of over 1500 people, before coming together for a festive finale jig.
Included in the audience will be agents and theatre professionals, so that the young actors have an opportunity to showcase their skills to key figures in the theatre industry. Previous participants include Andrew Garfield, who received a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 2011 BAFTAs for his role in The Social Network, and James Garnon, who will return to the Globe this summer as James I in Howard Brenton’s acclaimed play Anne Boleyn.
The performance will be the culmination of a weekend of talks, workshops and rehearsals, during which the students will receive expert guidance from the Globe’s text, movement, voice and choreography tutors. There will also be sessions with actors who have performed at the Globe and who will pass on their own advice. Founded in 2007, the Festival was established to reflect the mission of the Globe’s founder, American actor and director Sam Wanamaker, for the Globe to be a training ground for scholars and actors. Looking forward to this year’s Festival, Patrick Spottiswoode, Director, Globe Education, said, “I’m extremely grateful to the Leverhulme Trust for helping us to present the Sam Wanamaker Festival this year. It is a wonderful celebration of the quality of young actors about to enter the business. Sam Wanamaker first saw a reconstructed Globe in Chicago in 1933 when he was a drama student, and I’m sure he would be delighted that such a festival is taking place at the London Globe.”
The Sam Wanamaker Festival is held in association with the Conference of Drama Schools, and is supported by funding from The Leverhulme Trust.
ENDS 2011 Sam Wanamaker Festival Venue: Shakespeare’s Globe Date: Sunday 3 April, 2011 Time: 4pm Tickets: Seating £10; standing £5 Box Office: 020 7401 9919 or https://tickets.shakespeares-globe.org/selectshow.asp Further information from Eleanor Lovegrove at Shakespeare’s Globe Press Office on +44 (0)20 7902 1468, eleanor.l@shakespearesglobe.com Images of Shakespeare's Globe and last year’s Sam Wanamaker Festival, as well as other media resources, are available online at www.shakespeares-globe.org/press or from Eleanor Lovegrove (above). Notes to Editors Globe Education is the largest theatre education department in the UK. Each year, more than 100,000 people of all ages and nationalities participate in Globe Education's programme of public events, workshops and courses. Globe Education also runs an extensive programme in the Southwark community and creates national and international outreach projects for students and teachers. For more information, visit www.globe-education.org The Shakespeare Globe Trust is a registered charity No.266916. The Globe receives no public subsidy. The Leverhulme Trust was established in 1925 under the will of the first Viscount Leverhulme. It is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing funds of some £50 million every year. For further information about the schemes that the Leverhulme Trust fund visit their website at www.leverhulme.ac.uk The Conference of Drama Schools comprises Britain’s 22 leading Drama Schools. CDS exists in order to strengthen the voice of the member schools, to set and maintain the highest standards of training within the vocational drama sector, and to make it easier for prospective students to understand the range of courses on offer and the application process. Founded in 1969, the 22 member schools offer courses in Acting, Musical Theatre, Directing and Technical Theatre training. Graduates of CDS courses are currently working on stage, in front of the camera and behind the scenes in theatres and studios across Britain.