Shakespeare production to be taken on tour by Telford students

The cast from The Arts Centre Telford (TACT) will be visiting schools and other community venues across the county later this month.

Director Bobby Stanley said it was the first tour of its kind which TACT had undertaken but plans were in the pipeline for future tours.

The 15-strong cast will feature performers aged from as young as 11 to late teens and early twenties together with portable staging which will travel with the show.

Mr Stanley said: “We decided it was time to take on a touring show as it is very much part of a career in theatre with the majority of performers getting their first break in a touring show.

“It is a useful experience for our students and a really valuable one for us as a company to look at how we create and develop a touring production.

“It means in the future we may not have to be tied to one venue in terms of where we stage our shows and that opens up lots of opportunities.”

As You Like It will open at Idsall School in Shifnal today with performances at The Lost Arc in Rhayader on Sunday and Hadley Learning Community on December 1.

Performances are also planned at Burton Borough School in Newport on December 9 and 10.

Mr Stanley added: “I am delighted with how well everyone has worked on this production which follows how a professional company would approach this play.

"There is music involved and the cast also play instruments.”

The cast also includes a current or former pupil of each school the tour is visiting.

Mr Stanley said: “It is a lot of hard work to pull something like this together but it is very exciting to create this opportunity for students at TACT and for schools in the area to have a visiting production of a Shakespeare play.”

Tickets are available from the TACT website at the www.theartscentretelford.com or visit the centre’s Facebook page for more information.

They are £5 for students and £12 for general admission.