Stratford schools put on promenade Julius Caesar: When in Rome, roam!

ALVESTON Primary School is one of 12 in Stratford taking part in a promenade performance of Julius Caesar in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In all 400 schoolchildren, aged between seven and 17, will take part in performances next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 28th to 30th June, with three shows a day at 10am, 1pm and 4pm. Each day a different group of five schools will take part. The play will be edited but performed using the original Shakespearean text, and each school will be responsible for one of five sections. Year six pupils from Alveston seem very enthusiastic about their involvement in the project. Hannah said: “It’s good not to be just reading from a book in class; it’s better to be acting it on stage.” While Harry said: “It is amazing that we get to work with a world-class theatre company — most people never get such an opportunity!” During each performance the audience will be taken on a journey through Stratford, starting on the Bancroft Gardens outside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST), moving to Shakespeare’s Guildhall and Schoolroom, Shakespeare’s New Place, the Town Hall Ballroom; Weston Square outside the RST, and finally The Studio Theatre at The Other Place. Georgia Munnion, RSC education programme manager, said: “To build and strengthen our ongoing partnerships with both students and teachers within Stratford, we constantly make sure that schools are integrated into our season’s programming. “As a way of doing this we invite teachers and students to take part in various events or festivals which provide us with the perfect opportunity to use live performance to explore the power of Shakespeare’s language and use of rhetoric with young people.” Tickets cost £3 and are on sale now from the RSC Box Office on 01789 403493. Tickets are not available online.