Tennant’s RSC Richard II to get Cameo screening
First production to stream “Live from Stratford-upon-Avon”
By Thom Dibdin
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s forthcoming production of Richard II, staring David Tennant in the title role, is to be live streamed to Edinburgh’s Cameo cinema in November.
Richard II will be the first production in Live from Stratford-upon-Avon a new programme to screen RSC productions live from Shakespeare’s home town, run in collaboration with the Cameo’s owners Picturehouse Entertainment. The titles of two further RSC Shakespeare plays to be streamed live during the next year will be announced in September.
Gregory Doran, RSC Artistic Director, said: ‘We want to bring the work we make in Stratford-upon-Avon to the widest possible audience. Taking our productions live into cinemas and direct into schools is the next logical step. We will start with Richard II.”
Directed by Doran, the production opens in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in October. It will be filmed using multiple cameras around the stage and auditorium during the performance on 13 November 2013 and simultaneously screened into over 100 cinemas around the UK – and available in North America, Australia, Japan and Northern Europe.
The RSC is also opening up its work behind the scenes, through a series of short films available online during the run-up to the screening and broadcast as live footage on the night, before the show and during the interval.
The play follows the final two years of Richard II’s life and the commensurate rise to power of Bolingbroke. As a monarch Richard believes he is ordained by God to lead his people. But he is also a man of very human weakness. A man whose vanity threatens to divide the great houses of England and drag his people into a dynastic civil war that will last 100 years.
David Tennant is joined in the company by Oliver Ford Davies as the Duke of York, Michael Pennington as John of Gaunt and Nigel Lindsay as Bolingbroke.
Classroom linkup
The Company is also offering an opportunity to schools across the UK to experience Richard II in the classroom on 15 November 2013, building on the success of its first direct-to-the-classroom interactive stream last year.
The production will be streamed direct into up to 1000 schools, reaching an estimated 60,000 students through a collaboration with Ravensbourne College and the Janet Network. It will be accompanied by a live studio linkup hosted by Konnie Huq, who will introduce the webcast.
Members of the creative team, including Gregory Doran and David Tennant, will also be on hand to take part in a live online Q&A with participating students. The RSC says that it will also will create an extensive package of online resources for use by teachers and students in the classroom, both in the lead up to the broadcast and for use as follow up materials afterwards.
Richard II opens on stage in Stratford-upon-Avon at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 10 October 2013 and plays at the Barbican Theatre, London from 9 December to 25 January 2014.
The Live Stream will take place on November 13, with priority booking for Picturehouse members and RSC members from 3 June at Picturehouse cinemas, including the Edinburgh Cameo. Public booking opens 17 June.
Details of cinemas taking part on the RSC website: http://onscreen.rsc.org.uk/
Cameo Cinema website: www.picturehouses.co.uk/
ENDS
Is there an interval during the live screening, and do you have an approximate time please
There is a live screening on the 13th at the Cameo, start 7pm, doors 6.45pm. There will be an interval and the show runs 3 hrs 20 mins (210 mins). (Details here)
There are two “encore” screenings: on Tuesday 19 and Sunday 24 November 2013. Both start at noon, doors 15 minutes earlier, running time 3 hrs 20 mins, with an interval. (Details here).
Hope that helps. Enjoy the show.