The Southwark Playhouse has given out two thousand free theatre tickets to children in the surrounding Southwark and Lambeth area for its latest production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The playhouse is hosting a number of free matinees for primary and secondary schools throughout September.
Each school was offered 100 free tickets, and 20 schools took advantage to enjoy an afternoon of Shakespearean charm.
Producer David Workman said: “Hopefully we demystify Shakespeare a bit and demystify it for when they study it in class.
“We make it a bit less scary, Shakespeare is quite a big thing, or seemingly a big thing.”
“This is a project that has a long history in the playhouse, going back a couple of decades.”
The play itself is orientated around making Shakespeare accessible and approachable for younger audiences.
This is because the origins of their production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream were rooted in the playhouse’s plans for an outreach project.
The tones of accessibility and approachability do flow through the play, making it perfect for a charitable initiative.
This is part of the wider values of Southwark Playhouse, which aim to make theatre more accessible to children, both financially and artistically.
Workman said: “The aim is to provide the production of a Shakespeare play that is professional and high quality but is aimed at a younger audience and can appeal to a younger audience.”
A teacher who came to one of the matinees said: “We cannot the Southwark Playhouse enough for such an incredible opportunity for our pupils.
“We all loved the play and found it engaging, funny and lighthearted with just the right amount of naughtiness, and childish behaviour that everyone could relate to.”
The playhouse hopes to do this again and historically has managed to produce initiatives such as this every two to three years.
However, due to the practicalities of funding their next Shakespeare for children initiative is not confirmed.
However, Workman is hopeful.
He added: “This production has gone down really well and the response has been great, so there are lots of things for us to go back to funders with.”
Featured image credited to Charlie Lyne
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