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British Shakespeare Company
history
The tradition of open-air theatre is deeply rooted in British culture.
For over a thousand years companies have created theatres in the centre
of towns, erecting a pageant wagon or scaffolding stage and performed
great historical and classical drama for a mass audience. It is the
spirit of these open-air acting troupes, which weathered the theatrical
shifts from medieval Mystery and Morality plays towards the sophisticated
characterisation of Elizabethan drama, that inspires the British Shakespeare
Company. The pageant wagons, and later inn-yards and amphitheatres
outside London, were for centuries the means by which Shakespeare and
others could communicate with audiences beyond the capital, primarily
during the summer months. British theatre is forever indebted to these
companies, and the BSC – Europe’s leading exponent of open-air
theatre – aspires to inherit their mantle.
Shakespeare himself, whilst growing up in Stratford-upon-Avon, would
probably have witnessed such companies performing in the heart of his
home town, and we also believe that this early exposure to how nature
and drama can interact stimulated Shakespeare throughout his astonishingly
productive career. Nature clearly fascinated our nation’s greatest
playwright; he spoke of theatre as ‘holding a mirror up to nature’,
and we believe that the memory of natural surroundings was often absolutely
essential in fulfilling this aim. Even in his narrative poem Venus
and Adonis, Shakespeare playfully thrusts his mythological characters
into a world that is recognisably infused with the atmosphere of Elizabethan
Warwickshire. Similarly, the depiction of the Forest of Arden in As
You Like It could well have been influenced by the dramatist’s
own adventures in the woodland surrounding Stratford, while it is the
forest in A Midsummer Night’s Dream which offers – like
Arden – a site for disguise, self-discovery and transformative
love.
Indeed, this sense that nature offers an escape from the petty cruelties
and intrigues of human life can be seen in the language of Hamlet,
where it is not just the religious imagery of Eden that suffuses the
description of the corrupt Danish court as like an ‘unweeded
garden grown to seed’, possessed by ‘things rank and gross
in nature’. As in Richard II, gardens provide a microcosmic metaphor
for humanity’s treatment of self and society. And while ecologists
would scarcely approve of the hacking down of Birnam Wood in Macbeth,
the Scottish Play nevertheless envisages a strange and powerful fusion
of man and nature that is ultimately liberating. In effect, although
he wrote in the first instance for urban theatres, Shakespeare’s
concern with nature is vital to his dramatic vision – and by
performing in the open air, the British Shakespeare Company believes
that it can best connect nature, audience, and the spirit of the text.
Motivated by these ideas and traditions, Robert
J Williamson set about
creating a festival in his home town of Leeds, and since then the British
Shakespeare Company, now in its 12th year, has achieved critical acclaim
for its productions throughout the country.
As the leading exponent in this field they have established major
Shakespeare festivals for Brighton, Nottingham, Leeds, The Royal Botanic
Gardens at Kew, Cannizaro Park in Wimbledon and in the West End at
the world-famous Holland Park Theatre. This year sees the Company become
an international force in Shakespearian performance as it travels to
Norway for the first time.
By inviting audiences into a beautiful, historic site in the heart
of each city, installing covered seating, and adding staging, set,
lighting and sound the company creates a new temporary performance
space that captures the imagination of the public; and by performing
Shakespeare’s plays in a clear, engaging and traditional style
the company has seen audiences grow to over 100,000 throughout each
summer tour. The British Shakespeare Company has performed over 700
shows, entertained hundreds of thousands of people, employed hundreds
of actors – from movie stars to the finest classically-trained
verse-speakers – and produced two of the Bard’s most popular
plays each year.
With a full company of sixteen players including original live music
and songs, beautiful period costumes and the magic of a summer’s
evening, Robert J Williamson has been fulfilling that aim of all actor-managers
throughout the ages: to enchant and delight audiences of all classes
and ages. |
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