RSC Open Stages

Community Theatre Groups and Hall for Cornwall!

RSC Open Stages

RSC Open Stages is a Royal Shakespeare Company project produced in partnership with Hall for Cornwall, funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. Hall for Cornwall is pleased to be part of this scheme which offers community performing arts groups the chance to perform a Shakespeare-themed piece on the Hall for Cornwall stage.

RSC Open Stages

The scheme, generously supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation – which gives money to projects that can change things for the better – will end in a national showcase of amateur performances at the RSC’s home in Stratford-upon-Avon, to coincide with the World Shakespeare Festival in 2012.

Community Theatre Groups In The South West

Hall for Cornwall is thrilled to announce that 14 groups in our region applied to take part in Open Stages and we are enjoying meeting and working with them all.

The productions being performed by amateur or community groups are a Shakespeare play or adaptation, or have a Shakespearean theme.

Our regional groups have fulfilled the RSC's criteria that they should be ambitious, embrace an exciting new challenge for the audience and show a spirit of adventure – for example, by working with a circus performer or poet, or by making the performance site specific including Dartmouth Castle and The Jubilee Pool in Penzance.

The project involves both large and small productions from amateur companies with experience of Shakespeare and those who have never tried it before.

Our successful applicants have now become ‘members’ of RSC Open Stages. They will receive an RSC Open Stages marketing pack, to help with publicity and recruiting for their performances.

In June 2011 we held a Skills Exchange Weekend for all groups involved in the RSC Open Stages project in the South West. Workshops were led by practitioners from the RSC alongside professionals from Hall for Cornwall and UCF incorporating Dartington College of Arts.

Hall for Cornwall are working to support each group to create their own new Shakespeare-themed production with further workshops for actors and directors held on 17th March 2012.

Hall for Cornwall theatre looks forward to hosting a showcase on the 19th and 20th June 2012, featuring performances of selected RSC Open Stages productions.