The RSC put their most imaginative and experimental work into schools.

The Royal Shakespeare Company is going back to school but not to sit behind a desk. It`s taking its work to children and young people all over the country as part of it`s Stand Up For Shakespeare campaign, which encourages young people to encounter the bards work earlier, to experience it on their feet through practical approaches and to see it live.
 
The company`s Young Peoples Shakespeare productions are 90 minute versions of the plays that have been especially created with a younger audience in mind. Performed by members of the RSC ensemble with little in the way of stage design, props, lighting and sound, these peeled back, low fi shows invest hugely in the power of invention, imagination and what happens to a space when a group of actors and an audience come together to share a story.
 
Jacqui O`Hanlon, the RSC`s Director of Education firmly believes that Shakespeare`s plays "Invite us to talk to each other" and the challenge for a Young People`s Shakespeare production is to explore "How you can take the essence of a play and make it come alive on stage and speak to a younger audience."
 
RSC Artistic Director, Michael Boyd, is determined that young people and teachers are offered the highest quality experience of Shakespeare in performance and is committed to putting the company`s most imaginative and experimental work into schools.
 
Their 2009/2010 production is The Comedy of Errors - Shakespeare`s most slapstick, farcical and anarchic of plays - and is a perfect first encounter to a live theatre experience of their house playwrights work.
 
The RSC worked hand in hand with the acclaimed theatre makers, Told By an Idiot, to make the show. Under the artistic direction of Paul Hunter, 12 actors took on 18 roles, numerous musical instruments and set off with a simple platform stage and embarked on a tour of school halls throughout the country. This simplicity was vital to the character of the show and as Paul explains that they "Didn`t want to change their space, we wanted to do our show in their space." Nothing is hidden in this production and young audiences find themselves sitting on top of and in amongst the comic book action. Paul and the company weren`t interested in creating reality on stage, they were concerned with "Doing Shakespeare`s" play and by using simple objects, sound and action they present a playful version of the it that would excite and engage a young audience.
 
To discover more about the RSC`s YPS version of the making of The Comedy of Errors, download Digital Theatre`s behind the scenes documentary of the production - interviews, backstage and rehearsal footage, chat and more.

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