First Encounters with Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet production photos, January 2024. Directed by Philip J Morris, designed by Ebrahim Nazier. Photos taken at Sydenham Primary School, Leamington Spa. Photo by Joe Bailey (c) RSC

First Encounters with Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet performed in January this year at Sydenham Primary School, Leamington Spa

Photo: Joe Bailey (c) RSC

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RSC expands schools touring to ‘record’ levels in 2025

The RSC has announced it is increasing the reach of its schools touring, just weeks after dozens of theatre professional criticised the National Theatre for cutting its own primary school touring programme.

Mary Stone
2 min read

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s schools touring programme will be viewed by an estimated 24,000 young people next year, the largest number ever, the company has announced.

Aimed at younger and first-time audiences, the RSC’s two First Encounters with Shakespeare productions will tour for 24 weeks to school halls, town halls and regional theatres across the country throughout spring and autumn 2025.

The company said that its “expanded” touring activity comes at a time when “creative learning provision in English schools has reached an all-time low”.

“Access to the arts in schools is at a crossroads after being eroded over many years with thousands of young people denied the sorts of experiences that we know positively impact on life chances and learning outcomes,” said the RSC’s director of creative learning and engagement, Jacqui O’Hanlon.

“Taking our work directly into schools and communities we see the very real difference that expressive arts subjects and experiences make to children’s lives.

“We believe that the very best way for Shakespeare’s work to be experienced by young people is through performance; and we believe that live theatre and an arts-rich education are the right of every child.”

‘Stark choices’

The announcement follows a decision by fellow Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, the National Theatre, to axe its primary school touring programme.

The London venue said that “like every arts organisation in the country”, it has “faced stark choices in the past few years in the face of a sharp, real-term decline in our funding against a backdrop of increased costs that are beyond our control”.

In 2023, the scheme’s Hamlet tour visited more than 100 schools and was seen by more than 7,700 young people.

Last month, over 50 leading figures in theatre signed a letter expressing “profound concern” over the decision, calling the move “devastating” and “deeply damaging to working-class communities”.

The theatre also runs a secondary school touring programme and offers a range of digital educational resources and streamable productions.