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Box office  020 8940 3633

Box office020 8940 3633
Production shot – Primary Shakespeare

Primary Shakespeare

Primary Shakespeare 2025

"Julius Caesar" written in white on a dark red background.

Julius Caesar

For over 40 years The Orange Tree Theatre’s Primary Shakespeare programme has introduced tens of thousands of young people to the magic of Shakespeare and live theatre.

We are delighted to announce Julius Caesar as our production for 2025.

What is Primary Shakespeare?

Designed for Key Stage 2 (Years 3–6), Shakespeare’s tale of ambition, loyalty and betrayal in ancient Rome is brought to life in a lively, interactive retelling.

Each class’s experience includes:

  1. Two-hour workshop in your school ahead of the show
    • Get to know the characters
    • Learn the story and explore key themes
    • Meet one of the actors
    • Get ready to be actively involved in the show!
  2. One-hour performance at the Orange Tree Theatre
    • Interactive production involving the whole audience
    • A fun, dynamic experience of Shakespeare
    • A memorable early trip to the theatre

In 2024:

  • 100% of teachers agreed this was an excellent theatre experience for their pupils
  • 100% agreed their pupils were able to access Shakespeare’s story
  • 100% agreed the project helped develop their pupils’ creativity, teamwork, oracy, and cultural capital
“Once again you have found a recipe that allows children to be excited by Shakespeare and his plays not intimidated by them. Thank you very much!”
Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle
“We love the Orange Tree Theatre initiative. It exposes children to Shakespeare in a fun, creative and interactive way, preparing them for KS3 and beyond, whilst also reducing the fear factor around language and performances of this kind. We will continue to support this amazing local initiative for years to come.”
Barnes Primary School
“Fun, interactive, with clear, clever storytelling.”
Worple School

Booking is now open for this year!

Dates

Workshops run on selected days from W/C 19th May (excluding half term W/C 26th May).

Performances begin on selected days in W/C 2nd June and finish on 6th July, workshops continue through this period as well

Booking

Email francesca.ellis@orangetreetheatre.co.uk with details about:

  • How many classes (for workshop numbers)
  • How many pupils (for theatre tickets)
  • Any dates or days of the week you cannot do between Monday 19th May and Friday 6th July.

Because the capacity of the theatre is so restricted, we will ‘matchmake’ each booking with another school/s to fill our 180 seats, ensure your workshop and performance are appropriately spaced, and schedule workshops in different schools near to each other to make travel realistic for our actors.

If you have any questions, please let us know.

With thanks to the Backstage Trust for their support of this project, and to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, RLPC and the Haskel Family Foundation for their support of all OT Community projects.

Merchant of Venice (2018) production photo by Robert Day

Schools

Classes