Details

The Birthday Bash will feature music written for previous RSC productions and the forthcoming summer season, interspersed with speeches and extracts from Shakespeare performed by actors who have a close association with the Company. Around twenty of the RSC's musicians, along with guest instrumentalists and vocalists, will treat the audience to music from - amongst others - the following past productions: Henry V (1951, composer Leslie Bridgewater) which featured Richard Burton in the title role; Othello (1999, composer George Fenton, and 1948, composer Ann Carbutt); The Merchant of Venice (1987, composer Guy Woolfenden) and Henry IV (2014/15, composer Paul Englishby). Rufus Wainwright's setting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 will also be part of the programme. The winning entry from the RSC's current Shakespeare's Birthday Song Competition will gets its first public performance at the Bash. Open to professional and amateur composers aged 18+, the RSC is asking for a new musical composition, setting the words from one of Shakespeare's much loved songs to music. The competition closes on 23 March.

Creatives/Company

Director: Ryan McBryde