British Shakespeare Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The British Shakespeare Company is a British open-air touring Shakespeare Company. Founded by Robert J. Williamson in 1994 (as the R.J. Williamson Company), it was renamed in 2005. Originally based in Leeds (performing in the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey), the company has since established Shakespeare festivals for Brighton, Nottingham , Oxford (at Wadham College), The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, Cannizaro Park in Wimbledon and Holland Park Theatre in central London.
The company has produced two of Shakespeare's most commercially popular plays each year since 1994, totalling over 700 performances, usually featuring household names from film, television and stage. These have included James Alexandrou from Eastenders, Pierce Brosnan's actor son Sean B. Brosnan, the dancer and performer Wayne Sleep, and the comedian Norman Pace. The 2007 shows, Henry V and As You Like It toured Norway, Windsor, Leeds and Oxford.
Since 2006, when the company began performing at Ramme Gaard, an ecological estate with an outdoor amphitheatre on the coast of Norway, the Norwegian billionaire and philanthropist Petter Olsen has been its patron.
