Flute Theatre is a touring theatre company which performs the works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

to international interactive audiences mainly composed of people who could not ordinarily access the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

such as children with

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

and their families. The company was founded by Emma Richards and the actress

Kelly Hunter Kelly Hunter (born 21 July 1963) is a British film, television, radio, stage and musical actress, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. She is a Laurence Olivier Award nominee and Radio Academy Award and TMA Awar ...

MBE, the latter also being the Artistic Director and a performer in the company.

Origins

Flute Theatre grew from Hunter's work with children with

during her time with the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

in 2002, when she set up her own company, Touchstone Shakespeare Theatre (2002-2006), in order to work with children, some with

, who had little if any access to the Arts. Through this work she created and developed The Hunter Heartbeat Method, a distinctive methodology which uses Shakespeare's rhythmic language and physical gesture to release communicative blocks within children with all levels of autism, including children who are non-verbal. Hunter said of her work in Flute Theatre:

"I set up Flute to continue my work with children and young people on the autistic spectrum, but also to create performances of Shakespeare for audiences with no access to the arts. I wanted to take away the pomp and ceremony to reveal the essence of the plays... It all started about 15 years ago when I was working at the Royal Shakespeare Company and saw something else in the power of Shakespeare's language. That's when I began working in special schools. At first I was told I wasn't allowed to work with specific children but eventually I convinced them to give it a try and the results were astounding. Now incredibly it's part of a longer study taking place in America, which is incredibly exciting."

The company is produced by Kelly Hunter and Paula Salmon, while Karen Calamaro, Jane Claire, Michael Dobson and Talia Rodgers are the company's trustees.

Productions

To date Flute has created three productions; '' The Tempest'', for children with autism; ''Hamlet, who's there?'', and a new version of ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vio ...

''. ''The Tempest'' was first performed in June 2014 in

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

and in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

as a co-production between the

and

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. The production had its London premiere in October 2015 as part of the

Bloomsbury Festival Camden Festival was an annual spring festival founded in 1954 and held in London, England. Originally, it was named the St Pancras Festival until 1965. It continued until 1987. The festival specialised in the revival of long-forgotten operas, some ...

. The cast includes

members

and Greg Hicks. The company's acclaimed production ''Hamlet, who's there?'' began as an exploration of the divided self and the transference of grief originally intended for audiences who had suffered trauma. It premiered at the

Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival is an international theatre festival devoted to the idea of the Elizabethan theatre, and especially to the works of William Shakespeare. The event was first organized in 1993, on the initiative of Theatrum Gedanense F ...

on 4 August 2015 and is produced in conjunction with

English Touring Theatre English Touring Theatre (ETT) is a major touring theatre company based in London, England. History English Touring Theatre was founded in 1993 by Stephen Unwin. In 2008, the directorship of the company was taken over by Rachel Tackley, making ET ...

; it features

as Gertrude and Greg Hicks as

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

in an intimate and contemporary production which condenses the action of ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' into one evening in a 90-minute play featuring just six actors.'RSC actor's unique take on Shakespeare's classic tragedy'
- ''

Essex County Standard The ''Essex County Standard'' is a weekly newspaper, published in Colchester, Essex. In August 2019 Newsquest announced it would no longer subscribe to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the body that provides independently verified circulation ...

'' - 31 March 2016 Adapted from the original by Hunter, in 2016 the play was performed during an international tour which included the

Mercury Theatre, Colchester The Mercury Theatre is a theatre in Colchester, producing highly regarded original work under the title "Mercury Productions"and also receiving touring shows. The theatre has two auditoria, and is led by Tracey Childs (Executive Producer and J ...

, the International Shakespeare Festival in

Craiova Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...

, the Park Theatre in London, Clasicos en Alcala in Spain, the Globe Neuss in Germany and

Elsinore Castle Kronborg is a castle and stronghold in the town of Helsingør, Denmark. Immortalized as Elsinore in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet'', Kronborg is one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and was inscribed on the UNE ...

. The script is published by

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...

and is available from

Samuel French Samuel French (1821–1898) was an American entrepreneur who, together with British actor, playwright and theatrical manager Thomas Hailes Lacy, pioneered in the field of theatrical publishing and the licensing of plays. Biography French founde ...

. ''Hamlet, who's there?'' made its West End premiere at Trafalgar Studios 2 in December 2016 in a co-production with

. The company's production of ''

'' was directed and adapted by

with music by Tom Chapman; played with six actors, it premiered in Spain at The Festival de Teatro Clasico de Almagro in 2017 and toured the European Shakespeare festivals during the Spring and Summer of 2018 including the International Shakespeare Festival in

and the Shakespeare im Globe Neuss Festival.Production of ''Twelfth Night'' on the Flute Theatre website
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References

External links

Flute Theatre's Facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flute Theatre 2014 establishments in England Shakespearean theatre companies Theatre companies in England Theatre companies in London