Shakespeare Nation: A Norwich Story

Ophelia’s Dress – Get Involved!

As part of our upcoming community co-production, we are working with costume designer Amanda Harold to create a dress inspired by personal interpretations of the character Ophelia. We would love you to contribute! We’ll be holding a drop-in session during our Open Day on 9 Aug, and accepting submissions from all of our participants and audiences.

If you’d like to contribute, we invite you to decorate a piece of A5 fabric using any textile techniques you enjoy. Some suggested techniques are: Embroidery or cross stitch, Crochet or knitting, Appliqué, Fabric paint, or a combination of your choosing!

We recommend you use plain, pale fabric, and would encourage you to use upcycled or repurposed materials to help reduce environmental impact. Please join us on Open Day, or drop your submission off at the Box Office.

Some prompts to get you started:

• There is clarity in madness
• Did she drown or was she pushed?
• Is she actually dead?
• Was she pregnant?
• Were the plants she was using hallucinogenic?
• Or your own personal reflections on the character Ophelia

Creatives in the Community

Norwich Theatre has collaborated with local artists Katie-anna Whiting (The Whiting’s On The Wall), Daisy Henwood and Lucy Enskat (Hocus Pocus Theatre) to hold creative activities and conversations in community settings including Catton Grove Primary School, The Forum, and the MIND Rest Hub to hear from our communities and create a new collection of Norwich stories from people who work, live and learn in the city.

Join us for our Welcome Evening: Shakespeare Nation (23 April) to see some of these outcomes.

Community Co-production

Join a new creative community this summer and be part of the development of a bold new production! 

There are four Citizen Theatre Makers groups open to anyone over 18: Community Folk, a relaxed musical group for all adults, celebrating musical heritage and storytelling through song; Stories in Motion, a movement–based group exploring what happens when culture, tradition, and dance are woven together; Storytellers, a group crafting new narratives through writing and performance; and Women in Shakespeare, a group for women 50+ reclaiming the roles of Ophelia and Gertrude.

All of the groups are completely free to attend but need to be booked. Explore the full selection below:

Past Projects

Year One: A Tale of Many Cities, 2019

Norwich Theatre’s response to the RSC’s title Romeo and Juliet was to call the project A Tale of Many Cities – a reflection of our fine city and collaboration with the local refugee, student, academic, and vulnerable young adults communities.

The make-up of Norwich has always been changing. The city has always welcomed visitors from afar. The city’s population is as diverse as ever, and its diversity will continue to grow. At the time of the project, the political climate meant day-to-day conversations meandered around immigration, Brexit and the unknown for the future and how we, as the UK, will fit in and be perceived by the rest of the world. Yet Norwich could proudly boast itself as a welcoming city. Norwich Theatre wanted the project to reflect this.

Year Two: Brave New World, 2020

Year Three: A Carnival of Errors, 2021

A Carnival of Errors explores our own city’s response to the themes of Shakespeare’s play The Comedy of Errors – community, identity, power-play, and corruption.

Year Four: Julius Caesar, 2023

Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s great political tragedy, is the perfect play for our age of crisis, asking questions about how far we’d go to shift power. This production explored what really makes a leader, as well as inviting questions about gender and power.

Working closely with local Music Director Xenia Horne and RSC practitioners, our chorus developed their creative skills while exploring the nature of what makes a good leader today. The hope is that this chorus of community champions will continue to inform and challenge the work of Norwich Theatre and the RSC beyond the production. Working with people who lead for their community and understand the needs they serve is invaluable in the Nation project’s mission to ensure the work is relevant to those we create it with and for.

Through workshops and masterclasses, our Community Chorus explored voice and movement to create an elemental, tribal force, haunting Rome; evoking destruction and a spiritual, environmental reckoning beyond the story in the play.

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