News
Shakespeare's Scottish play for Christmas
On the 14th December, our partner school, St John the Baptist Junior School in Teddington, will be performing their version of Macbeth (which we will be the last time we name it before the performance!) in the Great Hall at Hampton Court, 13.15 - 15.00.
Our School Partnership Scheme runs at Hampton Court, the Tower of London and Kensington Palace and is an ongoing relationship with a school local to our palaces that gives the school greater access to our buildings, stories and collections and allows us to foster closer links with our local education providers. The partnership allows us to benefit from each others strengths and areas of expertise, so when Mrs Sawyer, the Head Teacher, first told us of their enthusiastic actors with a love of Shakespeare, it seemed obvious to follow up from last year's partnership with the 'Shakespeare Schools Festival' (see below) by inviting the pupils to stage their own performance in the Great Hall.
The group have already performed the Scottish Play in the Clore Centre in May and came in on Saturday 12th November for a rehearsal in the historic space.
The performance is free after entry to the Palace and takes place in the Great Hall.
Wednesday 14 December
First half 13.15 - 14.00
Interval 14.00 - 14.15
Second half 14.15 - 15.00
Past Projects
On Wednesday 15th of December 2010, Bexley Grammer School performed a 40 minute version of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the Great Hall at Hampton Court. Bexley Grammar are just one of the 650 schools who have participated in the Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF) this year, performing versions of Shakespeare's plays in over 80 theatres across the country.
Historic Royal Palaces and the SSF have worked together to create the opportunity for one school group to re-stage their performance in the grandest of all surviving theatres in which Shakespeare's plays were performed in his lifetime. After a successful performance at the Unicorn Theatre in Southwark, Bexley were chosen by the SSF to take up the challenge.
A Midsummer Night's Dream was performed in the Great Hall on New Year's Day 1604 for the newly crowned King James I. The Hampton Court Education Service invites all to come to the palace on the 15th to see this latest version!
