Celebrity Patrons Gather At Shakespeare's Globe To Launch Groundbreaking Free Production Of MACBETH

A group of famous faces including Adrian Lester, Tamzin Outhwaite, Jemma Redgrave, Roberta Taylor, Craig Gazey, Siobhan Redmond and Peter Guinness gathered at Shakespeare's Globe to pledge their support for Globe Education's fourth annual Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank project - Shakespeare's Globe's flagship education programme for London schools. As part of the groundbreaking scheme, over 14,000 free tickets for a full-scale, professional production of Macbeth over two weeks in March will be made available to secondary students across the city.

All 14-year olds study Shakespeare at school, but for many, coming to Shakespeare's Globe in March will be their first experience of live theatre. Globe Education believes that all young people are entitled to access theatre of the highest quality and works to break down barriers - both perceived and actual - to the arts.

Adrian Lester said: "This is a fantastic project. There is a lot of talk about ‘keeping theatre alive', and the only way to do that is to catch your audience early and give them the bug - and that means seeing live performances. But tickets are expensive and there are whole swathes of schools that would not be able to attend - this project tackles that problem head on."

Tamzin Outhwaite added: "When I was at school, going to see Shakespeare seemed like a world away. I think it's a fantastic opportunity for schools and I'm looking forward to standing in this space and seeing it come alive myself."

Other actors backing the project include Joseph Fiennes, Simon Russell Beale, Derek Jacobi, Lenny Henry and Dominic Cooper.

The newly-expanded project is part of Globe Education's commitment to providing creative approaches to the teaching and learning of Shakespeare, and is tailored to Key Stage 3 (14-year-old) students and their teachers. Thanks to the renewed commitment of sponsor Deutsche Bank, the project also offers free extensive interactive web resources related to the play, in-school workshops for almost 1000 students, as well as professional training workshops for teachers.

Patrick Spottiswoode, Director of Globe Education, said: "The Globe is the most exciting playground in which to meet Shakespeare. I am indebted to Deutsche Bank for supporting Globe Education's production of Macbeth and for providing 14,000 free tickets to students from London schools. Many will be attending their first live theatre performance, let alone their first Shakespeare play."

The free production of Macbeth - which is in addition to the production of Macbeth in the Globe's 2010 theatre season - is directed by Bill Buckhurst, who appeared in the 2007 and 2008 Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank productions of Much Ado About Nothing, as well as directing last year's Playing Shakespeare production of Romeo and Juliet.

Two of the performances will also be open to the public, with around 2,500 tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis. These public performances include the Globe's first ever captioned performance, for audience members who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The project is made possible by the generous support of Deutsche Bank, a partnership recognised in 2009 with a Lloyds Arts & Business Innovation Prize. Following the success of previous years, Deutsche Bank has increased the scale of the project in 2010, by facilitating an extra 5,000 free tickets, and pledged its support to the project for a further three years. The Financial Times will also act as the project's official Media Partner for the third year running.

Colin Grassie, UK CEO of Deutsche Bank, explained: "We strive to nurture the creativity and talent of young people through our community activities in the UK. Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank, our flagship education partnership, sits at the centre of this ethos. By providing accessible, professional theatre for students, the message to them and to the wider community is clear: the arts should enthuse and excite everyone, and the City has a role in making this possible. In three years, over 30,000 young people have participated in Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank, and we are delighted to be backing this exciting initiative."