James Alexandrou on why Shakespeare's not that hard

Who wants to know why Shakespeare is hard? 

It's because of a riot in a theatre a couple of hundred years ago. The same riot which directly influenced police in America to carry guns. It's true. Look it up (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astor_Place_Riot)

But long story short, it used to be in America, as here, plays were the TV of the day, everyone would go and mix, have an argument about the local goings-on (a sort of Question Time) and then shut up and listen to the plays. In fact a lot of people could recite the plays - and when I say a lot of people I mean everyone from the poor and uneducated to the upper classes. Trust me blud. 

James Alexandrou in rehearsal with Annabel Bates (credit: Boris Mitkov)

Along comes 2 actors, one British, one American and both very competitive. They have a public spat over who can perform Shakespeare the best ("I'm better than you", "No, I'm better then you", "I'll get my brother on you" and so on), which ends up with a massive riot during a performance by one the actors of Macbeth between their rival fans at a theatre in New York, which ended with the theatre burning down ('bringing the house down') and the Militia being called in and gunning down the crowd. Serious. This meant that new gun laws were brought in because the local police at the time didn't have death sticks yet, and almost as bad, it led to anyone of the lower social classes being banned from going to see Shakespeare at the theatre!

This meant for a large portion of the last 150 years, the poorer sections of society got to hear about Shakespeare but not to see it. It become more and more rarified and elitist and gained a reputation of being for the upper or at least the more educated class. Then along comes the heady and worthy productions of last century to pound into my little 14-year-old brain that Shakespeare is hard and I don't like it. 

But here's the thing. Shakespeare was an actor as well as a writer.  He obviously lived life, drank, partied and probably smoke weed as well as cocaine amongst other stuff. Don't believe me? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/4760882/Did-Shakespeare-seek-inspiration-in-cocaine.html

He made plays to sell tickets and make some money and keep the crowds coming back. It just so happens the man seemed to know something universal about humans and snuck a whole chunk of truth into what must have been the HBO dramas of the day. He made them to hit the heart, not the head.

James Alexandrou as Iago (credit: Boris Mitkov)

Grassroots Shakespeare London is a group of actors coming together with no director (another modern invention) and working together to tell the story of Othello. We work as close to Shakespeare's original methods as possible. They would have had a short rehearsal period, so we do too. With 2 weeks rehearsal you can forget any fantasies of an RSC level analysis of each line. You can forget deep research into how people of the day would have done this or that, or how, because a character repeats the word "Angry" 5 times in a passage, that Shakespeare was telling us to imbue some new meaning into each word. No, the man was probably pissed at the time anyway. 

Othello is about people not being who they really are. The black man in a white man's world having to be something he is not to survive, the betrayed friend who still has to act as if every thing is fine - put like this its easier to understand. Shakespeare's not hard. It's just incredibly deep, and all that requires is a bit of courage.

We are a company of actors coming together to discover some truth between ourselves and working at a time when funding is non-existent, we are all working for next to no money, taking time out of our days off to come and promote the show, to tweet, to Facebook and to sell as many tickets as we can in the hope that we get to do this again one day - just like Shakespeare did (minus the social networking). 

And just like Shakespeare we appeal to the heart not the head. Yes, our set is small but our heart is massive. Without exception, everyone member of my wonderful cast has made me cry. Without exception, they've made me laugh and without exception they have made me realise why I do this bloody job.

Get down and see why - Shakespeare's not that hard.

Othello is at Leicester Square until 26th April 2014. Tickets from www.leicestersquaretheatre.com

Dying on Stage: Annabel Bates on working with Grassroots

Annabel Bates as Desdemona

The first night was last night and as I sip my cup of coffee trying to come up with something of interest to write, all I can think about it how brilliant and brave the people I'm working with are.

All productions require teamwork, but in this production of Othello, it's on another level. We're all in it together, without a director, working our arses off, and when you work with actors like I've been blessed with, you're inspired to give more and more and more.


The real stars, however, are the production team. From Rhodora, slogging away, sourcing daggers and lanterns; to Rachael and Suzi, pulling all-nighters, clubbing together to sew on buttons and poppers; from Boris papping us so often I'm beginning to think I have a stalker; to Siobhan, tweeting about us so much, she's now got RSI.

Annabel Bates as Desdemona and Emily Jane Kerr as Emilia in rehearsals for Othello

Theatre should be an experience. It's live and there is no way of knowing what will happen on the night. We all have to make ourselves vulnerable, and we all have to do things we wouldn't normally do. People talk about coming to see a piece of theatre to taste the actors' blood, sweat and tears. Well, you actually can in our production of Othello, as the space is incredibly intimate, but when I [spoiler alert!] die at the end of the play, I have a long time lying on a bed, dead (trying not to sneeze), and as I lay there last night, listening to my fellow actors sweating, bleeding and crying, I realised that everyone involved with the creation of this production has 'died' once or twice in order to tell The Tragedy of Othello to our audience in the most engaging way.

It's not that we're always raging against the dying of the light. The comedians out there will know the best clowning comes after just 'dying' on stage too'

We're all scary, funny, ugly, beautiful individuals 'dying' on a daily basis in order to survive and that I think is one thing theatre should be a platform for.

Annabel Bates as Desdemona and James Alexandrou as Iago in rehearsals for Othello

For me, the best thing about theatre is that it's live. We can't control what happens, daggers may fly and we might die on stage, but theatre is like a football match. We've trained hard, we've got our positions and formations, we've got each other's backs, we're playing the game as best we can and we're a team.

Annabel Bates as Desdemona, Emily Jane Kerr as Emilia and Nari Blair-Mangat as Othello in rehearsals

When you go to see a football match or a piece of theatre, you hope you're not going to be let down by your team. You hope they score some goals or take you on a journey. You hope they make you proud or tell a story and give you a golden nugget of an experience to carry around with you forever. It should be like meeting a exciting person you have a real connection with.


I can't say yet that we've achieved that or not, but I know we're aiming to give you an experience to remember and I know we're willing to 'die' for it.




Annabel Bates is playing Desdemona in Grassroots Shakespeare London's Othello at Leicester Square Theatre from 2nd - 26th April. Tickets available from www.leicestersquaretheatre.com

Swagger Sticks: Adam Blampied on rehearsing, military style!

Hi folks. It's my turn to tangibly improve your lives with masculine yet tender words, so sit down, put your genitals in the crash position and stop talking for just a second, jeez, while I tell you about what we did yesterday.

Adam Blampied as Roderigo (copyright GSL)

Those of you who aren't going to hell when you die, i.e. people who read the Grassroots Blog, will already know that in order to streamline things (and trim down the amount of actor blood the cleaners are required to mop up at the end of a long day) we nominate a member of the cast to act as play-master. This entails leading warm-ups (difficult), introducing acting exercises (more difficult) and keeping everyone to schedule (hahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA) and yesterday the task was taken on by John Stanley.

And it was wonderful.

John, having spent a large part of his life in the military, ran a tight ship. “The time is 11.32,” he barked, a swagger stick appearing in his arm from literally nowhere, “we shall commence rehearsing act 5 scene 2 at 11.35!” 

And we actually did. 

He fielded note-giving sessions, barking the name of whoever had their hands up. “I'm going to have to hurry you,” he'd say if the note had started to ramble, “Right, you've got your point across. Now James! Go!”

One of the main upsides to working a play the Grassroots way is that everybody has a chance to have their opinions heard. This of the main downsides on the other hand is that everybody has a chance to have their opinions heard and, if not properly kept in check, note-giving can spiral out of control somewhat, four or five people debating the merits of their own personal taste for many, many minutes. This is all valuable work, no doubt, but can leave less time for getting stuff on its feet that might be allowed under a more dictatorial regime. 

The perfect compromise? 

John Stanley.

Extending the military theme of the day, John also led us in a tiny version of an Air Force boot camp, teaching us the correct posture, standing at ease and attention, marching etc, all the while delivered in the aggressive bellow of a drill sergeant. 

John: What the f*** was that?! Where the f*** did you go to school?

Me: A posh school, sir!

John: I CAN F***ING TELL. Squad, drop and give me 5!

Finally, he played us a verbatim performance of an inspirational eve-of-battle speech, delivered by Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Collins to British troops about to be deployed in Iraq. After fighting to suppress giggles during the boot camp, this left respectful silence in its wake, driving home just what is expected of a soldier; to be ever-aware of honour, of family and, of course, of death.

“Right, now the time is 3.48. 2 minutes and then we return to the floor! Understood?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

I don't really have an overarching point about today's rehearsals, other than perhaps:

(1) what a company of actors sorely needs is a bit of military discipline and a large man ready to impose a timetable upon you with the blunt end of a swagger stick.

And (2) we're having a lot of fun rehearsing this play, and I think that will be in evidence when we perform it. I think this is going to be good, you guys. 

You should come.

*****************************************************************************
The show runs from 2nd - 26th April at Leicester Square Theatre. Tickets available from www.leicestersquaretheatre.com

Cadbury's buttons and the Venetian palazzo: James Law on GSL rehearsals

James Law as the Duke of Venice (copyright: GSL)

Ah, blogs.

Always a nice idea I think - I quite enjoy reading other people’s – until, that is, you’re asked to write one yourself and literally can’t think of anything to say. Why don’t I write one in character I thought? So here I am, cup of tea to the left, bag of Cadbury's Giant Buttons to the right, The Great Escape on the telly. Maybe not the right surroundings for the Duke of Venice but the budget doesn’t stretch to a palazzo yet…alright, let’s scrap that idea.

It’s hard to believe that we only officially started rehearsing a little over a week ago. The first official day of rehearsal is intriguing for all sorts of reasons. From a human and acting perspective it’s always fascinating.

Most actors I know have a easy familiarity about them – they’re often being put in challenging situations so it helps to have that. When you actually land a part then that familiarity, by necessity, has to evolve into a slightly deeper relationship with your fellow cast members.

I don’t mean to wax lyrical about the acting process (or in the words of a fellow cast member, ”I don’t wanna get all South Bank Show about it…”) but it’s hard to think of many other professions where your fellow workers are expected to make themselves emotionally available and vulnerable within minutes, hours or days of meeting each other.

Everyone works at his or her own pace. It’s clear on the first day that some  people are quite far advanced.  Unfortunately, I’m not in that group and go home and have a mini crisis. An inevitable part of the process.

Having just ended the week with a rough stagger through of the whole play it might be useful to say something about the rehearsal process so far.

I’m new to the Grassroots way of working. In case you haven’t been reading these blogs (why not?!?) then the company prides itself on a collaborative process that doesn’t involve a director. A recipe for chaos in the rehearsal room one might think but funnily enough, not so far.

People have been respectful, generous and willing to listen to comments and take them on board. Well, it’s only week one, I’m sure that’ll change…

Part of the process involves electing a daily ‘Master of the Play’ to give a rough agenda to the day’s proceedings. I had this dubious pleasure on Thursday afternoon when we looked at Act Five. The experience is as challenging as it is rewarding. And quite a smart move too. It’s nice to feel that you may have a small say in the overall shape of the play as well as contributing with your own part.

It also makes for quite an intense experience as you can and indeed are expected to contribute frequently. Personally, I’ve found it a good lesson in realizing that the less you worry about your own personal contribution and the more you concentrate on the whole, the more rewarding the experience can be. Easy for me to say as I have a relatively small part but I’ve noticed that the actors with the larger roles are equally generous with their time.

And how to deal with the inevitable rising of tensions as opening night approaches? Well, next week we eagerly await the introduction of ‘Manuka moments’.

Manuka moments? You, alone with a jar of honey? Well, if that’s your thing… 

They actually involve giving every member of the company in turn a chance to air their thoughts honestly, whether it be a gripe with somebody or something. A good way to deal with potential flashpoints as they arise. The next blog I’m sure is bound to contain something  about one of these moments…

All in all, so far I think we’ve got to an incredible place. The quality of some of the work so far has been great and it’s wonderful to watch words and scenes you’ve heard and seen multiple times suddenly spring into life due to one person’s suggestion. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but the direction of travel is definitely forward and I’m very excited about next week.

Too many cooks spoil the broth? Helena Doughty on rehearsing, Grassroots style

Helena Doughty as Bianca in Othello (copyright: GSL)

Grassroots’s process requires input from all, a fair democracy in which everybody involved shapes the play, on set, period, costumes…well everything!  There is no director; no one to say whether it is “right” or “wrong”, to keep us in check, to time keep. We are completely alone. This is incredibly daunting especially for an actor, like myself who craves the attention and assurance from a person of authority. They also say too many cooks spoil the broth, which I usually find to be true. So I was rightly nervous to start rehearsals with Grassroots but if you don’t challenge yourself when will you grow?!

Before my first day to be honest I was trying not to worry about the chaos that was bound to ensue once we started working….Surely it will be manic….I won’t be able to get a word in…What if we offend each other with suggestions?....My mind raced as having been in similar “let’s all be equal and work together” situations before they all turned a little Lord of the Flies; dominant characters prevailing and the more reserved getting side-lined. I was intrigued to see how quickly we would revert to have one all presiding leader, because I was near sure of it.

Rehearsal fun! Helena (Bianca), Emily (Emilia), Nari (Othello) &
John (Lodovico)

What I wasn’t aware of when I was preconceiving ideas about how this strange process would work is that we would have what Grassroots call a “Playmaker”. This is a nominated person on the day, they have no control over what is decided but their main objective is to hear everybody and keep order. Kind of like a Speaker of the House in Parliament refereeing between parties/ideas just the difference is we probably achieve a lot more in a day. This allows us freedom to play and ponder because one person is dedicated to keeping to the schedule and the peace (not that we are particularly violent).

With this we can really have fun, it allows for a wide range of diverse and brilliant ideas as nothing is rejected. It is a warm, nurturing environment which lends itself to new & exciting takes on old, familiar text, I also love that we are developing the play just as they would have in Shakespeare time. I like that this is ours, we have full ownership and we are a Company in the truest sense of the word. I have thrown off my need for acceptance and praise, which is liberating and it definitely makes me think…What on earth was I worrying about in the first place?!

Helena and Adam (Roderigo) 

Pink Highlighters and Coffee: Emily Jane Kerr on starting Othello rehearsals

As we approach the start of rehearsals for Othello, we thought we would catch up with the lovely Emily Jane Kerr who will be playing Emilia at the Leicester Square Theatre (2nd - 26th April 2014), on coffee, pink highlighters and working with 'Des'.

Emily Jane Kerr as Emilia (copyright: GSL)

As I write this I am sat in the foyer of the National Theatre with my Othello script, note book, a pink highlighter and, most importantly, a cup of coffee. I don't think I could be any more of a cliché of an actor than I am currently, so this feels like the perfect time for the first Grassroots Othello blog.

Today has been very exciting: I had a catch up with Annabel (Desdemona - or Des as I think I shall be calling her). We spent a couple of hours chatting ideas, whether for the production as a whole or just character bits. There's nothing better than collaboration in my opinion and I can't wait to get together with the rest of the cast and start throwing brilliant and bizarre ideas into the ether. Both Annabel and I came with similar ideas, especially when it came to character relationships, so I think that's a great place to start.

We did, however, both reveal that we feel like we just don't know Othello (the play) that well. We'd both read, and re-read, the play numerous times; both done research; both read essays: we still felt like we didn't know the play. I haven't been in that position for a very long time and it did scare me for a little bit. However after chatting about it this morning, I now think it's a brilliant position to be in. I have no preconceived idea about what the show will be like. I can enter into rehearsals with a clear mind and fresh ideas, and still have loads of exciting things to discover in rehearsals. I can't wait to learn from the other actors and create a raw and honest performance as a group. Bring on the rehearsal process!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll just grab my beret and go back to being a cliché.

A Chat with Hollow Crown Fans & Grassroots Shakespeare London

At Grassroots, we love our social media and one of our favourite (ok, probably our favourite) Twitter accounts is the wonderful Hollow Crown Fans (@hollowcrownfans). We follow their themed #ShakespeareSunday, where fellow passionate Shakespeareans share their favourite quotes from the Great Bard himself.

Following a great Twitter exchange about opera and Shakespeare, Grassroots Shakespeare London’s Siobhan Daly sat down for a blog chat with HCF's Lis and Rose.

On Original Practices:

HCF: What does 'Original Practices' mean for an actor? For an audience?

Matthew Cavendish as Moth and Robert Nairne
as Don Adriano in rehearsals for
Love's Labour's Lost

SD: Original Practices for us means getting as close as possible to how Shakespeare’s actors would have worked and performed. I think that what most often surprises our audiences is that we have no director, but neither did Shakespeare’s players. For Elizabethan acting companies, there wasn’t a wardrobe or props department like we know it today. They would have had a small costume store most of which would be donated by patrons - however it would almost exclusively be slight variations on modern fashions, basically day-to-day dress. Having Grassroots source everything from what is in our everyday lives is a modern version of that. 

In terms of rehearsals, Elizabethan actors didn’t rehearse at all like you might think. They would probably walk through fights, entrances and exits, if that, depending on the play. A readthrough in the pub with the writer is probably the only time they would hear the whole thing before the actual performance.  The actors would have to form their own ideas of their characters before arriving at rehearsals. 

They would also use cue scripts, which is where you own have your own lines, and the cue words of the person before you.

So this inspired us. We started exploring rehearsing with shortened rehearsal periods, with our own props, costumes and developing our own characters because we wanted to see if it brought something new and fresh to performances. We discovered that it is exciting when you have a number of people giving creative input rather than just depending on a director’s approval, or relying on somebody else’s vision or creativity, which is quite lazy really. We have found that for actors to be engaged in this process, they will be real team players, willing to take risks and step outside their comfort zones. They are intelligent, courageous and love engaging with the text and with the relationships on stage.

A Beautiful Bride: Adam Blampied as Helena and Christian Kinde as Demetrius

            Also, Shakespeare’s actors were all male, so we decided to start casting gender blind. We have amusingly been accused of casting ‘heteronormative’ which made us laugh, because we actually cast the ensemble and then cast the roles. So it is talent that matters, we’re not making statements about gender, which other companies do excellently. We’re just looking at making the best production possible with the ensemble that we have. This has led to a male Helena, played memorably by Adam Blampied, or a female Philostrate/ Puck played by Emily Jane Kerr. Both actors are excellent and created imaginative characters.

For audiences, we hope that this brings a fun sense of irreverence, while bringing a textually rigorous, well performed production.

How does OP focus on clarity of text versus a single director's vision?

Siobhan Daly rehearsing for The Tempest with Stewart Heffernan

What we are really keen on is telling the story. I am sure that there are lots of wonderful productions of Shakespeare happening all over the world all of the time, that are well directed. I think for me, as an avid theatre goer, I’ve seen a lot of productions where the play has had a vision imposed, whether it fits or not. I recently saw a Shakespeare production which reminded me of this; the relationships and the story were very unclear, and words were added in to fit the director’s vision. It was awkward, clunky and my non-theatre going friend asked me if we could leave at the interval. I felt so sad because the play is wonderful but I could see entirely why she had failed to engage with this production. It had become introspective and self-congratulatory, rather than engaging.

Also, there is a freshness from hearing other creative people’s input, especially when they are doing all they can to hit every plot point and make everything crystal clear; that is when the heart of the story is communicated and I think that is often lost. It is why people say Shakespeare is boring, because undoubtedly they have seen productions that made them feel like this, but if Shakespeare speaks about the human condition, which we know he does, then we have to ask ourselves why this is happening.

I've found that a particular advantage to working in this style is that you can do without big lavish sets or any other crutches that can sometimes be used to prop up a production. You absolutely have to let the words do the talking, so you really need strong actors who love working the text.

David North as Don John in
Much Ado About Nothing, June 2012

Does a collective vision of a group of performers become a singular vision in the eye of the audience?

It takes a lot of work but yes it does. When the ensemble work together, they start to create a singular vision. 

An example of this was in 2012, we ended up staging two completely different production of Much Ado About Nothing. The first one was held around the time of the Jubilee celebrations, and very organically, the cast created a world inspired by VE Day, with soldiers returning from war. 

Boris Mitkov as Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing
August 2012

The second production we did was later in the summer with another cast, and they created something much more modern and militaristic, getting themselves two Off West End Award nominations along the way. I was involved with both productions and I made a point of deliberately not influencing the second cast’s choices, so for me it was absolutely fascinating to see them work and come up with their own original ideas.

When Original Practices is done well, the audience shouldn't really be thinking about the method, but engaging with the play.

Do you embrace or avoid contradictions in collective interpretation?

The Grassroots Dramaturg, Lauren Amy Pakes

We try to avoid them because ultimately we want to tell the story, so we do everything we can to keep that as simple and as straightforward as possible.

How do you democratically agree on how to edit or cut scenes from a play? Do egos ever get in the way (e.g., “you’ve cut my part down 50%!”)?

We have a Dramaturg, Lauren Amy Parkes, so she does the major editing work these days, and between her, Boris Mitkov (the Assistant Artistic Director) and myself, we come to a happy agreement on the final script. 

Sometimes, when we give the scripts to the actors, they will ask to put bits back in. We don't object to doing this, as long as they are intelligible inserts that fit with our edit and it doesn't impact too much on the running time!

On Shakespeare in new millennium and new audiences

Rupert Christiansen made a point that opera has seen success in concert style performances versus fully staged productions. Some responses to this is that type of production of Shakespeare’s work would be elitist. Is that something you think wide audiences would want to see? What would be the benefit or con of creating a concert style production?  Can Shakespeare’s work be appreciated fully without a reference point (such as staging)?

Daisy Ward as Hermia and Kane Surry as Lysander
in A Midsummer Night's Dream

I enjoy opera very much and see a lot of it, but I don’t think you can compare an opera concert style performance to a play. I don’t think a concert style play reading is something with wide appeal. This isn’t about having a large set, lighting or costumes. It’s about seeing actors standing in a line, trying to dramatically interact with someone who is standing at the other end of the line. I can’t see how it could be engaging or interesting. How will you see the relationships clearly? Or feel the drama? You might as well be listening to someone read the phone book.

Of course, this is entirely different when you’re listening to a singer and a full, or even reduced, orchestra, as the music often carries a lot of the emotion, and you’re not relying on the same things actors are.

With Shakespeare’s work becoming more widely available in text and performance online there have been debates on whether or not there should be an authoritative presence for performers and amateurs to reference to. Do you believe there should be authoritative standards for performers? Should the academia establishment limit performance interpretation? (in terms of being viewed as a valid interpretation, not in terms of policing).

In terms of having authoritative and trusted editions to turn to, yes, I do. I think that people like Eric Rasmussen and Jonathan Bate produce beautiful, scholarly edits for the RSC, and the Arden editions are invaluable when trying to edit a script. There’s many a debate been had at Grassroots over different words listed in the Arden! There is a wonderful essay by Jonathan on the RSC’s website about editing, including a fascinating discussion on Hamlet’s ‘sallied, sullied or solid flesh’ (he argues for the Folio’s ‘solid’) and it is an artform. I do think you need scholars who are passionate enough to wade through years of study to help practitioners, and at the same time, I think practitioners need to make their own minds up too. The work of academics can help you to do that. I personally love the work of James Shapiro. I think he is a brilliant academic and writer who brings Shakespeare and his world to life in a way I have never encountered before.

I’m not quite sure who would decide on valid interpretations. I think ultimately that will be down to the audience. I would worry about an establishment deciding because I think that could be limiting for artists and the beauty of Shakespeare is that people engage with it so widely. I recently saw Wu Hsing-kuo, a Taiwanese actor who produced a version of Macbeth called Kingdom of Desire using Peking Opera techniques. He told us that doing this had gotten him labelled a revolutionary agitator by the political establishment, for taking an iconic national artform and changing it to perform Shakespeare. I am glad that he could use Shakespeare's story of Macbeth in his own way because it became a cultural milestone.

What is more important for Shakespeare to thrive with new audiences? Entertain or enrich?

Hopefully a bit of both! 'New audiences' isn’t a synonym for 'stupid audiences', which I think can be implied by some people within the industry. You can entertain and enrich at the same time. They’re not exclusive and one is not more highbrow than the other. Shakespeare did both and I can’t see why well performed productions today can’t do the same.

Recent Shakespeare film/tv adaptations like The Hollow Crown, Ralph Fiennes' Coriolanus - or going further back to Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet or Mel Gibson’s Hamlet use popular celebrity actors to bring audiences to Shakespeare.  Does this help or hurt theatrical Shakespeare productions that don’t feature a big name celebrity (particularly with respect to setting expectations)?

I think the movies can help with developing audience awareness, because it makes it possible for entirely different demographics to have access to Shakespeare's stories. Some people have never been to the theatre and if the first time they encounter Shakespeare is in a cinema thanks to Baz Luhrmann or Mel Gibson, I don’t mind, and considering how commercially minded Shakespeare was, I don’t think he would have minded either. If these film goers who have never been to the theatre, do then go and see a theatre production as a result, then this can only be positive.

Established film actors are often performing on stage. We currently have Jude Law playing Henry V in the West End and Tom Hiddleston about to play Coriolanus, or there's Orlando Bloom as Romeo on Broadway.

Productions such as the current Globe rep season on Broadway of Twelfth Night and Richard III are anything to go by, audiences don't mind seeing excellent productions which don't feature A-List celebrity names. Actors that might be well-known here in the UK, are less renowned in the US, but the shows have had excellent press and are selling well.

How large a role does social media play into promoting your theatre company?

A large one! We have most of our followers on Facebook, so we try to engage very regularly with our audiences on there, and we also add our voice to Twitter. We like chatting with people. We are friendly and enjoy engaging people with Shakespeare's work. Social media isn't pretentious and neither are we. 

Our next show is Othello, and will be celebrating Shakespeare's 450th birthday from London's West End at the Leicester Square Theatre, from 2nd - 26th April 2014. When we announced this on social media, we had a fantastic response. We were so pleased as the whole team work really hard and with genuine passion to produce high quality, accessible productions of Shakespeare. The response you get on social media is also immediate. Rather than waiting until April, we've been able to talk to our audience now, and that is great.

We hope you enjoyed our chat! Next time, we'll be chatting with the Hollow Crown Fans and finding out more about their fantastic Twitter account and their love for Shakespeare!

About Hollow Crown Fans

Hollow Crown Fans started 30th of June 2012 at the start of the BBC's broadcast of The Hollow Crown.  The group was originally set up to petition the BBC to publish a commemorative book of photographs of the series. However, the effort quickly evolved from that original purpose to a broader vision that celebrated The Hollow Crown, its cast and crew, and all of Shakespeare's work as portrayed in text and performance. It evolved yet again in October 2012 with the advent of the weekly #ShakespeareSunday Twitter event. #ShakespeareSunday is an all-day Shakespeare flashmob of sorts where people from all over the world tweet their favourite quotes from the Bard. Participation in the event is steadily growing and currently ranges between 500-600 tweets from followers each Sunday.

To encourage participation from followers we've held an original art competition, judged by 2 cast members of The Hollow Crown, and a popular Cento Poetry writing contest that was judged by The Shakespeare Institute. We have a great time linking Shakespeare (in text or performance) to people's pre-existing interests. For example, recently promoted that there are 4 prominent Hamlets playing key roles in 'Skyfall' or 3 incredible Macbeth's in the X-Men franchise. By these activities, we love connecting fans with performers with academia - it's a blend of practices that we've yet to see on social media for Shakespeare.

Essentially we believe that Shakespeare can be a part of pop culture and should be accessible to everyone - be they enthusiasts, performers, academics or novices.  On a more personal level, we are run by two admins, one from the UK (who was an extra in Henry V!) and one from the US. Both share a life-long love of Shakespeare, history, theatre and film and bring that energy to the 3000+ followers on Twitter every day. Our motto: Come for The Hollow Crown, Stay for the Shakespeare!

Lis & Rose

@HollowCrownFans