George MacKay (1917, Sunshine on Leith), Simon Callow CBE (Shakespeare in Love, Four Weddings and a Funeral), Kayla Meikle (Small Axe, After Life), Jade Anouka ((His Dark Materials S2, Small Axe) and Pandora Colin (Chernobyl, Penny Dreadful) are among the cast for the next live ReadThrough on Thursday 11th March 2021, bringing to life William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet and free to watch for all school-age students across the UK.
The full cast for Romeo & Juliet will feature George Mackay (Romeo), Donna Banya (Juliet), Simon Callow (Friar Lawrence & Montague), Kayla Meikle (Nurse), Pandora Colin (Lady Capulet), Colin Ryan (Benvolio), Edward Franklin (Prince Escalus & Apothecary), Jade Anouka (Mercutio & Abraham), Nari Blair-Mangat (Tybalt) and Alasdair Buchan (Paris & Gregory).
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/romeo-juliet-tickets-142111921583.
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].
George MacKay said: “It is a privilege to be joining the ReadThrough team and initiative; to be a part of a shared moment, and to learn from it is a beautiful thing, ReadThrough is helping students to collaborate in that with these readings and discussions.”
The ReadThrough founders said: “We’re utterly thrilled to have attracted another superb cast for our next live ReadThrough. We’ve been inundated since we launched and were thrilled students and schools found the first live readthrough so useful. We’ve also created and started provided tailor-made workshops for schools around the UK and our fundraising efforts will hopefully help us to run many more over the coming months.”
ReadThrough will work with schools across the country to offer full readings of curriculum texts, performed live via digital platforms for as many students as possible, using professional actors and directors. The organisation also offers bespoke workshop sessions where they can take over English/Drama lessons and concentrate on a selection of scenes with the students that are performed, dissected and discussed, and there is the additional possibility for students to read in for parts. The team have been running bespoke workshops for schools across the UK in recent weeks, many of which have been provided for free to schools, which has been made possible by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
More than 26,000 students and teachers logged on for the first-ever live ReadThrough event held on Thursday 11th Feb, with a cast including Joe Lycett, Pearl Mackie, Remmie Milner and Esther Smith performing Macbeth to aide student’s comprehension of the curriculum text.
Schools can sign up for the live Readthrough of Romeo Juliet on 11th March by going to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/romeo-juliet-tickets-142111921583
