Who are we?
Established in 2006, Guildford Shakespeare Company is a site
specific theatre company dedicated to providing theatre, and
Shakespeare in particular, that is not exclusive or old-fashioned,
but exciting, engaging and accessible to all audiences.
Why Shakespeare?
Many people, young and old, still harbour doubts
watching Shakespeare.
Yet everyone knows something
about a Shakespeare play, and we constantly
use his
words and phrases in our everyday speech, so why this
apprehension?
It may stem from negative school
experiences or the belief that
Shakespeare, and by
association theatre, is an elitist entertainment,
something
you have to work hard at, and pay more for, to enjoy.
Our company's passion is to breakdown these pre-conceptions, creating productions which anyone can enjoy. After all, these stories were originally created to be seen as popular entertainment, and happily, one of the most frequent responses we get from audience members is “I never knew Shakespeare could be like that - I'm hooked!”
To date…
Our first production, Much Ado About Nothing in Guildford Castle Grounds, performed over ten sold-out evenings. Over the last four years 11,500 people have seen our site-specific productions. In the last two summers our audience figures have seen a 30% growth year on year and in 2009 alone, we welcomed over 3200 people.
In February 2010 we produced our first Winter Season, (indoors!) at the beautiful Holy Trinity Church on Guildford High Street. During its 18 performances, Romeo + Juliet was seen by 2400 people, including 8 schools.
Our audiences' ages range from 8 to 80 and are not just from central Guildford. We regularly welcome people from all over South Surrey and North Hampshire, including Horsley, Clandon, Godalming, Bramley, Ripley and Farnham. People also travel from as far away as Reading, Portsmouth, Brighton and of course London. We've even taken bookings from Hong Kong, Australia and the US.
We continue to provide quality support for Shakespeare in schools and have recently begun creating workshops for the application of Shakespeare in business. We have also started producing smaller bite-size performances for one-off special events for private, corporate and charity clients.
Guildford Shakespeare Company has twice been the recipient of Best Cultural Event of the Year award in the Guildford Life With Style Awards, and in 2010 was short listed as a Finalist in the Toast of Surrey Business Awards.
Our approach
We passionately believe that theatre and Shakespeare should be accessible
to everyone – regardless of age, means or social background.
This entails many things – keeping ticket prices low, choosing
accessible locations that fit the play, productions without age
restrictions and that are understandable to all learning levels,
irrespective of whether English is your first language. It is our
aim to achieve this whilst remaining faithful to the original text
and never “dumbing down”.
Why site-specific, and what does that mean?
It could be argued that there is nothing new in producing theatre or Shakespeare, indoors or outdoors, but it is the verve, commitment and execution that makes Guildford Shakespeare Company’s approach innovative and creative.
The site-specific nature of our work means that the performances are presented in fresh and inventive ways; by not detracting from the natural space around us (whether it be beside a lake or in a church), the performances are imbued with an almost cinematic quality, giving our audiences an inclusive, immediate, and above all, unique experience.
The future?
As we grow we are always looking for new ways to expand our output - from producing a winter season to touring villages to schools workshops and performances; the nurturing of new audiences for theatre, as well as Shakespeare, is vital for the sustenance of our cultural future. Our work is helping to prove that entertainment does not have to involve a celebrity, a television or pots of money to enjoy it, but rather breathing new life into a traditional form of entertainment that has heritage and relevance today.