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The Royal Shakespeare Company Annouces London Shows

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

The RSC come to London in December with Chief Associate Director Gregory Doran’s production of Twelfth Night at the Duke of York’s Theatre followed in February by Dunsinane by David Greig and The Gods Weep by Dennis Kelly at Hampstead Theatre.

Duke of York’s Theatre
Twelfth Night
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Gregory Doran

This production premieres in Stratford-upon-Avon in October with Richard Wilson making his RSC debut as Malvolio. It will then play a straight 10 week run at the Duke of York’s theatre on St Martin’s Lane from 19 December 2009 to 27 February 2010.

The cast includes Sam Alexander (Sebastian), Nancy Carroll (Viola), James Fleet (Sir Andrew Aguecheek), Alexandra Gilbreath (Olivia), Richard McCabe (Sir Toby Belch), Pamela Nomvete (Maria), Simeon Moore (Antonio), Jo Stone-Fewings (Orsino) and Miltos Yerolemou (Feste).

The production is designed by Robert Jones with Paul Englishby composing music, Martin Slavin designing sound and Tim Mitchell lighting. Doran will also direct a new stage version of Malory’s Morte D’Arthur in The Courtyard Theatre with the RSC’s current long ensemble in June 2010. Full details on www.rsc.org.uk. His recent production of Hamlet, with David Tennant in the title role, is to be broadcast in a TV version on BBC 2 later this year and will then be available for sale on DVD.
Public booking for Twelfth Night in London opens on 9 October.

Dunsinane
By David Greig
Directed by Roxana Silbert
10 February – 6 March 2010

David Greig’s Dunsinane is a vision of one man’s desire to restore peace in a country ravaged by war.

Late at night in a foreign land, an English army sweeps through the landscape under cover of darkness and takes the seat of power. Struggling to contain his men and the ambitions of his superiors, the commanding officer attempts to negotiate the unspoken rules of this unfamiliar country. This is Scotland in the eleventh century at the height of the fight for succession of the Scottish throne.

David is a playwright, screenwriter and theatre director born in Edinburgh. His play with music Midsummer, which he also directs, is currently one of the hits of this year’s Edinburgh Festival. His work has been translated and produced in almost every country in Europe as well as the US and Australia. His previous plays for the RSC include The American Pilot (2005) and Victoria (2000).

Roxana Silbert is an Associate Director for the RSC. She was previously Artistic Director of Paines Plough, Literary Director at the Traverse Theatre (2001-2004) and Associate Director, Royal Court (1998-2000). Recent productions include Orphans by Dennis Kelly (Traverse/Birmingham Rep/Soho), Roaring Trade by Steve Thompson (Soho) and Dallas Sweetman by Sebastian Barry (Canterbury Cathedral).

Cast to be announced.

The Gods Weep
By Dennis Kelly
Directed by Maria Aberg

11 March - 3 April 2010

Dennis Kelly’s The Gods Weep focuses on the life of a CEO whose global business may have grown to a scale that is uncontainable. Colm has taken a lifetime to build his empire. With brutal rigor he has shaped the world around him in his own image. As time moves on his decision-making abilities increasingly fail him and the world he has created begins to fracture. The power struggle that ensues reveals the corruption and unstoppable forces at work in a world where corporate greed and national security frighteningly overlap.

Dennis Kelly’s work for the stage includes Orphans (Traverse/Birmingham Rep/Soho. Fringe First & Herald Angel Awards 2009); DNA (National Theatre); Taking Care of Baby (Birmingham Rep/Hampstead Theatre); Love and Money (Manchester Royal Exchange & Young Vic); After The End (Bush Theatre, Traverse Theatre, Leicester Haymarket & UK Tour); Osama the Hero (Hampstead Theatre) and Debris (BAC, Traverse and Latchmere). He was awarded the Wolff Whiting Award for Taking Care of Baby and the Meyer-Whitworth Award for Osama the Hero

Maria Aberg directed Roy Williams’ Days of Significance for the RSC which embarks on a national tour this autumn following a successful run at the Tricycle Theatre. Her other work includes State of Emergency (Gate Theatre), Die Kaperer (Staatstheater, Mainz), Crime and Punishment (National Theatre), Gustav III (National Theatre of Sweden) and Alaska (Royal Court). She was Associate Director for the RSC’s productions of The Winter’s Tale and Pericles as part of the RSC’s Complete Works Festival.

Cast to be announced.
Both shows will be at Hampstead Theatre.

For all theatre study tour needs, you can visit the Select Travel website

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Imperial War Museum North

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

A heart-rending yet captivating exhibition at the Imperial War Museum North, is “Captured: The Extraordinary life of Prisoners of War” (23 May 2009 - 3 January 2010), which is the first exhibition of its kind and marks the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War. This unique exhibition will look in detail at what was needed to survive in an often harsh environment. Using an engaging mix of objects, art, documents, photographs, film and sound from Imperial War Museum’s unrivalled collections, Captured will reveal incredible personal stories during periods of captivity that in many cases lasted for several years.  Select Travel Service has a wide variety of military history tours available for groups.  Visit http://www.selecttravel.com/tours_military_history.asp

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Jane Austen Walking Tour

Friday, April 10th, 2009

Beloved by fans of English literature all over the world, literary group tour specialists Select Travel can bring your group to a quiet corner of the English countryside for a more intimate look at the life and sites associated with the novels of Jane Austen.

Spend the day on a comfortable walk through the quiet corner of the English county of Hampshire. Pass through areas seemingly lost in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century which inspired two famous writers - the naturalist Gilbert White and Jane Austen. Walk into the delightful arcadia of woods and hidden pastures that surround Selborne, stop for lunch at The Queens Hotel before walking across Selborne Common and dowland to Chawton, the home of Jane Austen for the last eight, and most productive, years of her life. On the way you can reflect on Austen’s remark in ‘Persuasion’ that two villages only three miles apart and led by a specialist guide, the day will often spark much conversation and exchange of ideas and opinions on these great literary works. Select Travel Service designs a wide variety of English literary tours including Charles Dickens, William Wordsworth, Geoffrey Chaucer, the Bronte Sisters and of course William Shakespeare.

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Museum of Impressionism, Giverny

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

Calling all art museum travel planners! The new Museum of Impressionism in Giverny, France, is must see.

To celebrate the opening of this wonderful new collection, a very special inaugural exhibition on display from 1 May until 15 August, 2009 brings together some 20 paintings created by Monet himself, all of them featuring his gardens at Giverny. For the first time visitors can admire the Nympheas masterpieces in the very village where they were created and go from the reality of the motif to its pictorial portrayal by the master of Giverny on the same day. The exhibition focuses on Monet’s double creation work. A keen gardener, Monet skillfully landscaped his garden which then became a motif for his paintings. He “invented” the landscape he was going to paint. Specialist European group tour operator Select Travel features a day at this very special museum as an integral part of our custom art tours of France.

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April Fools Hoaxes

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

Celebrated around the world, April 1st is famous for its hoaxes both large and small.  We’d like to share some of our favourite European pranks:

#3: The Parisien stunned French citizens in 1986 when it reported that an agreement had been signed to dismantle the Eiffel Tower. The international symbol of French culture would then be reconstructed in the new Euro Disney theme park going up east of Paris. In the space where the Tower used to stand, a 35,000 seat stadium would be built for use during the 1992 Olympic Games.

#2: In 1990 London newspaper News of the World reported that the Channel tunnel project, which was already suffering from huge cost overruns, would face another big additional expense caused by a colossal engineering blunder. Apparently the two halves of the tunnel, being built simultaneously from the coasts of France and England, would miss each other by 14 feet. The error was attributed to the fact that French engineers had insisted on using metric specifications in their blueprints. The mistake would reportedly cost $14 billion to fix.

#1:In 1992 the Moskovskaya Pravda announced that the winds of capitalism transforming Russia would bring further changes for the residents of Moscow. Apparently plans had been finalized to build a new Moscow subway system. Of course, there was nothing wrong with the city’s current subway. But in the spirit of capitalism, the second system would be built to promote “the interests of competition.”

We hope this brought a little levity to your day!  Happy April Fools.

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Bicentenary of Charles Darwin

Friday, March 27th, 2009

Visit Down House in Kent and join in the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of the world’s most eminent scientists, Charles Darwin. It was at Down House that Darwin lived with his devoted family for 40 years, and it was here he researched and wrote his most famous and explosive of works, On the Origin of the Species. To commemorate the bicentenary, Down House has a brand new exhibition, Uncovering Origins, which charts the progression of Darwin’s ideas and the controversy they provoked. Enjoy new interactive multimedia tours covering both the family rooms and, for the first time ever, the extensive gardens known as Darwin’s ‘outdoor laboratory’.

Also experience what life at sea was like as Darwin’s epic 5-year voyage is vividly brought to life with a full-scale replica of his cramped cabin on board HMS Beagle. Darwin’s outdoor laboratory has been put forward to UNESCO as the UK’s 2009 World Heritage Site nomination.  Born in Shrewsbury, Darwin studied at both Edinburgh and Cambridge Universities, and was one of the few 19th century personages to be honoured with a state funeral and buried in Westminster Abbey in London. Whether for  an educational tour, or simply for a well-deserved vacation, Select Travel will happily put together a tour for you and your group, visiting any of these university towns, or indeed a visit to Down House, to discover more about this fascinating man and his theories on evolution.

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Rome’s Museum of Crime

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

While the Eternal City is rightly known for its maginficent basilica and monuments, for those looking to spend a a couple of hours visiting a site off the beaten path, the Museo Criminologico might just fit the bill.  Housed in a former prison, the exhibit contains three main collections.  Punishment and Crimes as one might expect, details the ways criminals were punished in the past - fascinating but definitely realistic.  The Spirit of Reason collection depicts the development of  crime solving techniques and the beginnings of forensic applications.  The third collection is the Social Control of Deviance which traces some of the most notorious of Italy’s criminals and of course constant battles against the infamous Mafia families.  Its an interesting diversion from the usual sights associated with Rome and suitable for those with an interest in criminology as well as the casual visitor with a strong stomach!

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New Treasure Hunts for Students

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Keeping educational study tours interesting for younger students is often a challenge.  Treasure hunts are often very effective tools in keeping students engaged, especially in some of more “serious” museums of Europe.  London’s Victoria & Albert museum has just launched a new product which will give high school age groups a fun, yet informative, introduction to the V&A and its collections, as well as a great team-building exercise.  Each Treasure Hunt is based on a specific theme and has 10 objects for students to find and photograph.  The winner is the team to complete their Hunt in the quickest time and return with a complete set of photographs. Maps and digital cameras are supplied.  Select Travel offers a range of well crafted treasure hunts for high school group tours throughout Europe, including the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and Rome’s famous monuments.

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Prince Charles the Shop Keeper!

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

The Prince of Wales’ has opened a new shop called Highgrove in Tetbury, Wiltshire. This most exclusive grocery store is filled with products from the Prince’s Highgrove estate. Seasonal organic vegetables just harvested from the farm, honey, chocolate, and apples from Camilla’s orchard, flowers picked from the royal estate come wrapped in brown paper bags embossed with the Prince’s feather emblem are among the goods sold. The store carries a porcelain vase to commemorate the Princes’ up coming 60th birthday, chinaware by a student at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts and watercolors that were painted by Charles’.

This is an eco-friendly business, every detail of the shop has been approved by the Prince and all proceeds will go to charities that he supports. Select Travel can incorporate a stop at the shop on many southern England custom group itineraries. This isn not your usual souvenir shop.

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