Shakespeare 4 Kidz News

Shakespeare 4 Kidz sponsors the What’s On Stage Awards Best Shakespearean Production category for the third time this year, and the Awards concert takes place at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London tonight (Sunday 20 February 2011).

Recent past winners of this category include The RSC for Hamlet at the Novello (2010), The Donmar Warehouse for Othello (2009), The Chichester Festival production of Macbeth at the Gielgud (2008) and The RSC for As You Like It at the Novello (2007).

The six nominees for the 2011 prize are:

As You Like It – at the Old Vic
Hamlet – at the National, Olivier
Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2 – at Shakespeare’s Globe
Macbeth – at Shakespeare’s Globe
Measure for Measure – at the Almeida
The Comedy of Errors – at the Open Air

Many congratulations to all the nominees.

The results can be seen at http://awards.whatsonstage.com or via www.whatsonstage.com

You can also follow on Twitter at @Whatsonstage or by using #wosawards

CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS STORY ON THE LIVERPOOL POST WEBSITE

MISCHIEVOUS fairies will take over the Empire next month when a child-friendly version of A Midsummer Night's Dream visits the Liverpool theatre.

Touring company Shakespeare 4 Kidz has given the comedy a magical transformation into a musical version, launched last September.

Featuring songs, dances and spellbinding effects, the show retains the Bard's story of a Duke marrying his Amazonian queen and two pairs of lovers eloping into the woods where the audience finds feuding fairies and naughty sprite Puck, played by Noel Andrew Harron.

“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,” says a theatre company spokesman. The script flows so easily that most people don’t realise approximately 20% of it is in Shakespeare’s own words.”

The Dream is one of six S4K titles, following on from the 2009/10 national and international tour of Macbeth.

Dame Helen Mirren described The Dream as “the Avatar of Shakespeare, with something to be enjoyed by all age groups, a great message and lots of fun and fantasy".

THE Dream will be at the Liverpool Empire on Monday February 28, playing at 10.30am and 1.30pm. 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS PREVIEW ON THE WESTON MERCURY WEBSITE

Getting to the Bottom of the Bard

FAIRIES and fun, royalty and romance, magic and misunderstandings are all rolled into one in Shakespeare 4 Kidz adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The group will be performing a musical version of this classic play at The Playhouse in Weston next month.

Who can resist the fabulous story of a Duke marrying his Amazonian queen, 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.

Audiences and reviewers have been loving S4K’s show, which started in September last year.

Noel Andrew Harron’s outrageously camp Puck has become a firm favourite with the kids who and Sean Luckham’s ebullient Bottom is another big hit.

The Dream is one of six S4K titles, following on from the 2009/10 national and international hit tour of Macbeth.

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 so easily that most people don’t realise that approximately 20 per cent of it is in Shakespeare’s own words.

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

The performances will be held at the theatre on February 17 at 10.30am and 2pm, and February 18 at 10.30am.

Tickets, priced £10-16, are available from the box office on 01934 645544 or www.theplayhouse.co.uk 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS ARTICLE ON THE BOURNEMOUTH ECHO WEBSITE

Child-friendly version of A Midsummer Night's Dream visits Lighthouse

* By Patrick Gough »

Fairies and fun, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has them all. So, little wonder this enchanting play is one of the most popular ever written.

The Bard’s comedy gets a magical transformation from Shakespeare 4 Kidz, whose musical version visits the Lighthouse Poole on Tuesday, March 8.

The 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 so easily that most people don’t realise that approximately 20 per cent of it is in Shakespeare’s own words.

Adults in the audience who have previously been baffled by the Bard will find that they can at last understand what it is all about.

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

The production company has plenty of celebrity fans such as Dame Judi Dench, Victoria Wood, Graham Norton, Jason Donovan and Barbara Windsor.