The Stage

RSC opens education centre in Stratford-upon-Avon

Published Tuesday 30 June 2009 at 14:40

The Royal Shakespeare Company has opened its first dedicated site for education and community work in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Waterside Space will serve as a permanent home for the company’s work with more than 2,000 teachers, 65,000 young people and numerous families and community groups each year. It is housed in a building that was formerly home to a tourist attraction called the Shakespeariance. However, the site has been empty since last year when the company ceased trading.

Stratford Town Trust, which now owns the long-term lease on the building, has given the 15,000 sq ft space to the RSC on a peppercorn rent for the foreseeable future.

“For us, it’s the first time we’ve had a dedicated space for our education work,” an RSC spokesman said.

“Obviously we’ve been doing our education work for a long time, but sometimes we’ve done it in the theatre and sometimes we’ve done it in a rehearsal room or a church hall, which is obviously not ideal. Now, it’s all in one space which is a stone’s throw away from the main theatre.”

Featuring three large education spaces, the site will be used for workshops, conferences and post-show and pre-show events. From 2010, the space will also be made available for local community arts organisations to use for rehearsals. The first time the venue will be open to the public is on the RSC’s annual open day on July 19.

RSC executive director Vikki Heywood added: “This new centre is a brilliant addition to our plans for the transformation of our Stratford theatres, bringing actors and audiences closer together. Access to culture should be a right for every young person in the UK, and this dedicated space allows us to step up our commitment to the thousands of children and teachers that we work with every year. It also helps us offer more to life-long learners and those outside formal education.”