Casting has been announced for the upcoming national school tour of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s First Encounters with Shakespeare production of Twelfth Night. 

Pérola Congo will play Maria, with Tyreke Leslie as Antonio/Sir Toby Belch, Daniella Agredo Piper as Viola, Laura Smithers as Olivia, Stanton Wright as Sebastian/Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Ibraheem Toure as Orsino, Emma Manton as Malvolio, and Alice Blundell as Feste. 

This new production, directed by Robin Belfield, has been given a 21st century update with an environmentally conscious take, with the creative team aiming to limit waste and reduce the environmental impact of theatre making. Designer Georgie White has worked with a team of students from Birmingham Ormiston Academy to create a set made from reclaimed, recycled and ethically sourced materials. 

These First Encounters with Shakespeare productions are 90-minute, abridged versions of Shakespeare classics using edited versions of the original language.

Robin Belfield said: “We want children and young people’s first encounters with live theatre and Shakespeare to be fun, engaging, and meaningful. So, we asked them what was important to them, and two things came across very clearly and consistently: that the show should be a co-creation between the RSC and the young people themselves and that climate crisis should sit at its heart.”

The show will tour schools between 20 September and 12 November visiting Birmingham, Northampton, Cumbria, Blackpool, County Durham, Middlesbrough, York, Bradford, Hull, Nottingham, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Suffolk and Stratford-upon-Avon.  

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