Macbeth production is new venture for Theatre Royal Brighton

The group has announced a new production arm led by ATG Creative Learning in collaboration with ATG Productions which aims to inspire the next generation of theatregoers. They are offering Creative Learning Presents, a new model for “presenting exciting, excellent quality, relevant productions for schools in our communities”, and Macbeth, which just happens to come from a Hove-based company, will be the debut production. It will play Theatre Royal Brighton on March 26. ATG Creative Learning is partnering with the group’s production arm ATG Productions to enable performances for schools to be presented during the daytime underneath national tours, “without compromising on design or presentation and with affordable ticket prices (£8) for local schools.” Macbeth will play on Friday afternoons where the tour of Pretty Woman is playing. It is also playing Brighton as an extra. Pretty Woman isn’t playing Brighton.

Jackie Alexander, senior creative learning manager Theatre Royal Brighton, said: “Creative learning for a while has been looking at how we can support and or influence producing works for schools that are affordable and that work for schools in terms of times and dates. There is a lot of work around that is great for schools and the schools do come to things like An Inspector Calls and Woman In Black, shows that have regular visits from schools but since the pandemic and possibly a bit before, the number of groups from schools visiting has gone down generally – because of limited resources, because of time and money. It has become harder and harder for teachers to come out of the classroom and to justify a visit to the theatre even if it is for something that is on the curriculum. So we wanted to find a way that would make ticket prices affordable and that would make productions much more accessible for schools. And in order to do that it was agreed that a good way of managing it would be if we did something under the existing ATG production arm. ATG has an award-winning production arm and the idea is to do something for schools in venues where ATG are already up and running with a show – which would make the finances a lot easier. This year ATG are out on tour from January to June with Pretty Woman, and we will also be putting on Macbeth by Out of Chaos in Brighton. We didn't go out looking for local company but it is fantastic for us that they are local. They have a production of Macbeth which is 80 minutes straight through with no interval and just two actors. It's a very physical theatre production but doesn't compromise on the text and it's a great way to get schools to come and see Macbeth and appreciate and understand the play and then take it back into the classroom. The idea is that it will play on the Friday afternoon where Pretty Woman is playing. There's no connection between the shows but the point is the collaboration. The idea would be to use this model perhaps once a year. Twice a year would be nice...”​

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