S4K PRESS RELEASE
13th February 2009
For immediate release
S4K defies the curse of Macbeth
The notorious Scottish Play - Macbeth - gets the Shakespeare 4 Kidz treatment this autumn. Following a spring tour of Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest, S4K will be getting out the tartan to tour Macbeth from September to November.
The show has been very well received each of the five times it has toured since its premiere in 2000 and its creator Julian Chenery is confident that the play will be a winner once again.
He is undaunted by, though wary of, the superstitions which haunt the Bard’s tragedy, thought by many to curse the theatre world in the same way King Tut’s tomb cursed archaeologists.
Fearing the hubble, bubble, toil and trouble stirred up by the plot’s witches, they believe that disaster will befall those who put on the play and that if an actor speaks the name Macbeth in a theatre to undo the curse he must leave the building, spin around three times, spit, curse, and then knock to be allowed back in.
“The famous curse is something we’ve had our share of in the past,” he reveals.
“In the autumn of 2000 we had incessant rain for three months which affected all of our get-ins and get-outs; a national fuel strike which made it nigh impossible to move the production around the UK; the actor playing Banquo hit his head on the windscreen of the cast coach; the actor playing King Duncan went down with Bell’s Palsy making half his face freeze and one of the stage crew walked into a door and fractured her skull. Apart from that the show was a huge hit and has remained immensely popular ever since!”
Macbeth opens at the Palace Theatre, Mansfield on Tuesday September 8 and travels across the UK until Friday November 27.
A full touring schedule will appear on the Shakespeare 4 Kidz website www.shakespeare4kidz.com soon. Dates already confirmed for September include:
Palace Theatre, Mansfield (8 - 11); Palace Theatre, Manchester (14 and 15); Coronation Hall, Ulverston (16); Sands Centre, Carlisle (17) and The Middlesbrough Theatre (21 - 25).
Most box offices will be open for bookings in March. Full casting will be announced in June.
Shakespeare 4 Kidz plays use the most famous quotes from the original texts, weave them into modern language, add some songs and dances into the mix and the result is a two hour entertainment which everyone – even the youngest primary kids – can understand.
The whole plot is retained and all the major characters are there too, to tell the blood-thirsty story of the murderous Scottish warlord who, egged on by the prophecies of three weird witches, removes every obstacle in his path until he can seize the throne for himself.
So watch out… something wicked this way comes, thanks to the Shakespeare 4 Kidz company.
Ends
NOTE TO EDITORS
1. Further information and hi-res images may be found on our marketing page at http://www.shakespeare4kidz.com/marketing
2. The 2008/2009 theatre tour is produced by Julian Chenery and Shakespeare 4 Kidz Theatre Company in association with The Capital, Horsham with whom S4K has enjoyed an associated relationship since 2004.
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