Bringing Shakespeare to schools

Last week, with Virgin Media’s continued support, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) gave schools across the UK the opportunity to tune into a special free Schools’ Broadcast of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

In addition to Hamlet, Virgin Media is supporting the RSC’s free Schools’ Broadcasts of King Lear on 10 February and The Tempest on 30 March 2017 – making brilliant content accessible to children nationwide. This builds on Virgin Media’s support of the Schools Broadcasts streamed in 2016 and 2015.

The aim of the broadcasts is to transform young people's experiences of Shakespeare’s work by bringing his plays to life in an exciting way. Research by the RSC has shown these broadcasts and related activities allow students to make a more meaningful connection with Shakespeare’s plays. This aligns with Virgin Media’s digital for good strategy, where we use our resources to make brilliant content more widely accessible and relatable.

Jacqui O’Hanlon, RSC Director of Education said “Our free broadcasts to schools are hugely popular with teachers and students across the country.  We know that many young people who experience Shakespeare in this way are doing so for the first time, with thousands signing up for each production that we broadcast. Virgin Media’s support of our free Schools’ Broadcasts will ensure that we continue to provide the broadcasts for free to schools across the UK”.

Since 2013 the RSC has broadcast 9 productions in schools, which has seen more and more schools signing up to this valuable initiative. Further details about these broadcasts can be found at: https://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/in-cinemas/.