Shakespeare 4 Kidz News

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Shakespeare's a dream for kids

Shakespeare 4 Kidz’ stunning production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream floats into Blackpool’s Grand Theatre on March 1st & 2nd Catch it while you can!

Welcome the world of William Shakespeare into your family with Shakespeare 4 Kidz’ enchantingly accessible adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Blackpool’s Grand Theatre on Tuesday 1st March and Wednesday 2nd March.

Shakespeare 4 Kidz transforms The Bard’s celebrated comedy A Midsummer Nights’ Dream into a spell-binding musical you and your children will love and understand with the famous words cleverly woven into modern language. This dazzling and hilarious production is packed with fairies and fun, royalty and romance, magic and misunderstandings and has proved a huge hit every time it has toured.

Who can resist the story of a Duke marrying his Amazonian queen, two sets of lovers eloping into the woods, Bottom and his funny friends rehearsing a play, feuding fairies and naughty sprite Puck causing no end of merriment with his mischievous magic? But, the course of true love never did run smooth... It’s simply a dream come true!

Shakespeare 4 Kidz (S4K) are a UK-based theatre company which creates musical adaptations of the Bard's classic plays for people of all ages to enjoy. Its unique approach has proved a hit with children and adults alike and they have introduced hundreds of thousands of children and young people to the wonderful world of William Shakespeare.

Shakespeare 4 Kidz’ delightful production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is at Blackpool’s Grand Theatre on Tuesday 1st March at 1.30pm and 7.30pm & Wednesday 2nd March at 10am and 1.30pm.

Adult seats £16, Children £10 Schools £10 plus 1 free teacher’s place with every 10 seats purchased.

Lord, what fools these mortals be...  if they miss this!

Book your seats now by calling the Grand Theatre Box Office on 01253 290190, online at www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk or at the Grand Theatre information sales point in the Houndshill Shopping Centre. Follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook for up to the minute show info and theatre gossip, news and reviews

Don’t forget - Parking is available at a discounted rate at the secure West Street Car Park, directly opposite the theatre’s entrance. Book your parking ticket when you book your show tickets from the Box Office and you can have parking from 5.30pm until 12.30am for only £2.50! 

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YOU’RE never too young to be introduced to the Bard.

That’s the mantra of the Shakespeare 4 Kidz organisation, which brings young people to the work of the playwright from Stratford-upon-Avon.

Now the theatre group is heading for the Liverpool Empire with its own unique music-infused version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which it cheekily describes as “getting to the bottom of the Bard”.

Expect fairies and fun, royalty and romance, magic and misunderstandings. A Midsummer Night’s Dream has them all and more.

So it’s little wonder the enchanting comedy is one of the most popular of Shakespeare’s works.

Who can resist the story of a Duke marrying his Amazonian queen, and two sets of lovers who elope into the woods where the audience finds feuding fairies and a naughty sprite called Puck, whose mismanaged magic causes no end of hilarity?

And not forgetting the group of Athenian workmen rehearsing a play to entertain the royal couple at their wedding celebrations.

Young audiences are likely to love Bottom (played here by Sean Luckham), one of theatre’s funniest roles. And they are practically guaranteed to giggle when Noel Andrew Harron’s naughty Puck puts an ass’s head on to him as a prank and fairy queen Titania wakes up and promptly falls in love with him.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of six S4K titles, following on from the 2009/10 national and international hit tour of Macbeth.

And in 2009 they visited the Empire with their version of tragic love story Romeo and Juliet.

Every S4K show uses the whole Shakespearean plot, slotting the most famous original lines into modern language so that everyone – even the youngest primary school children – can understand.

The script flows, meaning most people don’t realise that approximately 20% of it is in Shakespeare’s own words.

There are also songs, dances and spellbinding effects as the fairies create a world of wonder in the woods.

S4K has plenty of adult fans too, with Dame Helen Mirren describing “The Dream” as ‘the Avatar of Shakespeare’.

Shakespeare 4 Kidz is at the Liverpool Empire with A Midsummer Night’s Dream on February 28 at 10.30am and 1.30pm.

Tickets are available on 0844 847 2525.

Read More http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2011/02/15/preview-shakespeare-4-kidz-liverpool-empire-100252-28170601/2/#ixzz1Ec2v22Dj
 

The National Theatre's production of HAMLET picked up the prize for the Shakespeare 4 Kidz Best Shakespearean production at this year's Whatsonstage.com Awards concert at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London.

NT's Giles Terera (Horatio) with the 2011 Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Shakespearean Production sponsored by Shakespeare 4 Kidz (photo Dan Wooller)

Giles Terera, who plays Horatio in the play, picked up the award on behalf of Nicholas Hytner and the National Theatre Company. He told us that the play is currently completing a short tour (Woking, Milton Keynes, Plymouth and Luxembourg) and will then return to the National, to the Lyttelton Theatre from 12 - 23 April. The production has also appeared on screen as part of the NT Live season.

NT's Giles Terera (Horatio) with S4K's Carolyn Chenery at the WhatsonStage.com Awards	The Awards Concert was compered by Sheridan Smith, Biggins and Miranda (photo Dan Wooller)

Hamlet stars Roy Kinnear as the Dane, with Clare Higgins as Gertrude, Patrick Malahide as Claudius, David Calder as Polonius and Ruth Negga as Ophelia.

The S4K/NT Hamlet connection continues ... RADA-trained Michael Peavoy who plays Barnardo made his professional debut in Hamlet. Michael won the Stephen Sondheim Student Performer of the Year Award in 2009, in which he sang the Chenery/Gimblett song "To Be a Man" ... from S4K's Hamlet.

Our congratulations to the whole company.