Students see Shakespeare

Over 270 students from five schools in Tower Hamlets have free tickets to Shakespeare’s Globe on Bankside to see a thrilling production of Othello set in the First World War, specially created for 11 to 18 year olds. For many, this will be their first experience of live theatre and of a Shakespeare play.

The production is part of Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank, an annual project from Globe Education at Shakespeare’s Globe. The fast-paced, contemporary productions retain Shakespeare’s language. They are kept to 100 minutes in order for schools to travel to the Globe and back in a school day.

Director Bill Buckhurst spoke about presenting this play for a young audience: “Othello is full of real-life issues: friendship, envy, domestic violence, race, rumour and prejudice. It’s a world on the brink of war. There are some extraordinary stories of black soldiers in the British army which are not as often told. Shakespeare was well ahead of his time, and it’s incredibly exciting to tell his 400-year-old stories to a new generation.”

Othello runs at Shakespeare’s Globe until 21st March. Tickets for public performances are available on selected Saturdays. For more information and to book, go to:
shakespearesglobe.com/playing-Shakespeare

•And if you were captivated by Othello, or if you didn’t get to see it, there’s a chance to see Titus Andronicus in the comfort of a nearby cinema from 26th March. This production revisited Lucy Bailey’s spectacular Globe production of 2006 and caused a stir throughout the UK media with staged violence so realistic that throughout its run the play saw audience members fainting in the stalls. The 2015 cinema release, the first Globe On Screen film to receive a 15 certification, will have audiences on the edges of their seats from start to grisly end!

Shakespeare’s grisly early tragedy oscillates between pitch-black comedy, terrible violence and moments of the most profound human suffering. Grotesquely violent and daringly experimental, Titus was the smash hit of Shakespeare’s early career, and is written with a ghoulish energy he was never to repeat elsewhere.

•For more information and to sign up for regular updates on Globe on Screen, go to: globeonscreen.com