Area Focus: Coventry - Mid Warks - Royal Shakespeare Company extends reach across UK in 2025

Thousands of families, young people, teachers and communities will see the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) perform in their town or city next year as two productions – Matilda The Musical and an 80-minute version of The Tempest – tour the country. The company has also announced that schools will be able to sign up for on-demand access to its critically acclaimed 2024 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for one week in February 2025.

Bringing Shakespeare’s magical play into school halls, theatres and town halls across England, First Encounters: The Tempest is a fresh, abridged take on Shakespeare’s original text aimed at younger audiences aged 7-13 and those seeing Shakespeare for the first time. 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 also work with young people in the lead up to the tour to create special soundscapes to underscore the production. Opening in Leamington Spa on February 4, the show will travel to RSC partner schools and theatres across the country, finishing in Northampton on May 10. The tour is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

From February 3, thousands more pupils can get their first taste of Shakespeare and live theatre when schools will have on-demand access to A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of the RSC’s free Schools’ Broadcast Programme. Eleanor Rhode’s 5-star 2024 production with Mathew Baynton as Bottom delighted audiences when it opened in Stratford-upon-Avon earlier this year and is set to enjoy a short run at the Barbican theatre in London this winter. The creative team includes Lucy Osborne (Set and Design) John Bulleid (Illusion Director and Designer), Matt Daw (Lighting Designer) Will Gregory (Composer) Pete Malkin (Sound Designer), Annie-Lunnette DeakinFoster (Movement Director), Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown (Fight and Intimacy Directors).

Also announced today, audiences around the country will get the chance to see the second major UK and Ireland tour of the RSC’s multi award-winning Matilda The

Musical, opening in Leicester on October 6, 2025. Based on Roald Dahl’s best-selling novel with literacy and books at its heart, the show has already been seen by 12 million people across 100 cities worldwide. The musical will celebrate 15 years on stage when it opens at Leicester Curve. It will then travel to Bradford, Liverpool, Plymouth, Sunderland, Edinburgh, and Manchester.

Written by Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and developed and directed by Matthew Warchus, the production is designed by Rob Howell, with by Peter Darling, orchestrations, additional music and musical supervision by Christopher lighting by Hugh sound by Simon Baker and special effects and illusions by Paul Kieve. For further information on the shows, visit https://www.rsc.org. uk/first-encounters-the-tempest or https://uk.matildathemusical. com/, and to learn more about the schools programme, see https:// www.rsc.org.uk/learn/schoolsand-teachers/live-lessons-andonline-performances/schoolsbroadcasts