Dame Harriet Walter (Killing Eve, Succession, Sense and Sensibility), Jade Anouka (His Dark Materials, Small Axe), Guy Paul (Patrick Melrose, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Remmie Milner (His Dark Materials, Save Me Too) and Esther Smith (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Palace Theatre & Apple TV+’s Trying) are among the cast for the next live ReadThrough performance at 4.30pm on Friday 7th May, bringing to life William Shakespeare’s Othello free to watch for all school-age students across the UK.
The special guest actors join ReadThrough regular cast members Alasdair Buchan (An Inspector Calls, UK tour, Richard III, West End) and Edward Franklin (Valhalla, Netflix & Shakespeare In Love, Noel Coward Theatre), with the performance directed by award-winning director Hannah Price.
The reading will be immediately followed by a Q&A with the cast, and schools wishing to sign up should visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/othello-tickets-151831928385. The questions for the Q&A will be student and teacher led – if you would like to submit questions on behalf of your pupils please email them to [email protected].
Dame Harriet Walter said: “Books are to be read but plays are to be performed. The written text of a play is the playwright’s guide to performance. Shakespeare would be amazed that we still had his words written down today and had to study them academically. We learn by doing and, hopefully, also by watching and getting involved in the characters and stories of a play. I hope ReadThrough will not only help lift the plays off the page but also (very important) inspire students to try sounding out the words, acting out the parts among themselves. That way the experience means something personal and the intellectual understanding follows from that”.
ReadThrough said: “Othello is a well-studied text for English A Level, and ReadThrough aims to reach all interested English A Level students, as well as encouraging English GCSE students keen to expand their Shakespearian knowledge and especially those who will begin their English A Level course next academic year. We are thrilled to be bringing Dame Harriet Walter and Jade Anouka together for this reading of Othello, which we know will be electric and not to be missed.”
ReadThrough was set up by a group of professionals from television, film and theatre and launched in February, offering online play readings and school workshops designed to improve the comprehension of exam-body English plays for students across the UK, with a particular focus on students from less privileged backgrounds.
Schools can sign up for the live Readthrough of Othello on 7th May by going to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/othello-tickets-151831928385
