Visitors to ‘Britain’s Greatest Palace’ over the Easter weekend were treated to a sneak peak of the theatrical performances to come this summer, when SHAKESPEARE’S ROSE THEATRE opens a new site at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire in July.
The 2019 Summer of Shakespeare will see Europe’s first ever pop-up Shakespearean Theatre return to its original site in York this summer, and both theatres will run simultaneously, performing a total of eight Shakespeare plays. The 13-sided Shakespearean theatres will house an audience of 900, with 560 seated on three tiered balconies around an open-roofed courtyard with standing room for 340 ‘groundlings’.
At the preview event, company members Paul Hawkyard and Leandra Ashton performed monologues from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth at various iconic locations around Blenheim Palace, including the Italian Gardens and the South Lawn, and fight director Jonathan Holby gave a fight choreography demonstration on the site of the theatre itself, the footprint of which was marked out to give a sense of the eventual size of the venue.
James Cundall MBE, CEO of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions and originator of SHAKESPEARE’S ROSE THEATRE, gave an introduction to the project, and Dominic Hare, CEO of Blenheim, talked about why he was so pleased to be welcoming the theatre and his vision for the benefits to the wider Oxfordshire community.
They were joined by producing partners Anthony Findlay and Joni Marks, CEO and CDD of Raymond Gubbay Ltd, and Damian Cruden, overall Artistic Director for SHAKESPEARE’S ROSE THEATRE, who talked about the artistic vision for both companies in 2019, along with other members of the creative team, including Juliet Forster (director, Romeo & Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Lucy Pitman-Wallace (director, Richard III), Philip Franks (director, The Tempest) and Adam Nee (set and costume designer, Richard III).
The Blenheim Palace season will run Monday 8 July – Saturday 7 September 2019 with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet and Richard III, and the York season will run Tuesday 25 June – Sunday 1 September 2019, with Hamlet, Henry V, The Tempest and Twelfth Night.
The plays have been selected from across the genres, offering something for everyone, and will be performed in repertory by two companies of actors based at each location.
Further information and booking details can be found in the press release attached.
www.shakespearesrosetheatre.com
