Orange Tree Theatre has today announced that its annual education project Shakespeare Up Close will go ahead online this year, presenting abridged productions of Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, being made available to schools digitally.

This project, which offers secondary school students the chance to see Shakespeare’s plays performed, marks the first Orange Tree Theatre productions in almost a year. 

Bec Martin will direct Zena Carswell, Cat Kolubayev, Enoch Lwanga, Jordan Turner and Jazmine Wilkinson in both productions, with filming taking place in a Covid-secure environment in line with current government guidelines.

Martin said: “I am so thrilled to be directing the Orange Tree’s first production in nearly a year. And I am even more thrilled that this production is for young people. Participation and engagement is becoming even more vital as we reckon with a world without live theatre. The events of the last year have disproportionally affected our young people and it feels significant that while we can’t offer this production in person as we would normally, we are able to provide an accessible and engaging production in a digital medium.”

The venue’s Artistic Director, Paul Miller, added: “Education and participation has long been at the centre of the OT’s work, and not being able to connect with the more than 10,000 young people that we regularly engage with has been agonising. So, I am delighted that Bec Martin’s brilliantly imaginative new versions of two plays at the heart of the curriculum will be made available to schools, to GCSE students and more widely too. It’s the start of the OT’s return to making work, and it couldn’t be more fitting that this is where we begin; I can’t wait!” 

Both productions will be made available to schools here for a one-off free from late March.