Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
To mark the 400th anniversary year of Shakespeare’s death, Selfridges is opening its first ever in-store theatre at its flagship branch on London’s Oxford Street.
The initiative is part of the retailer’s ‘Shakespeare Refashioned’ event, which will combine fashion and drama in honour of the playwright.
The 100-seat theatre space on the lower ground floor of the department store opens from July 4 to September 24. Bookings are now being taken for a specially commissioned 90-minute production of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ by William Shakespeare, directed and produced by The Faction theatre company.
The project combines the teamwork of The Faction, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and Selfridges.
The Faction artistic director Mark Leipacher said: “Everyone at The Faction is delighted to be collaborating with Selfridges to create this new production for the Shakespeare Refashioned project. It’s an ambitious, innovative and wild idea – exactly the way we should be celebrating Shakespeare 400.”
RADA will join the theatre with a two-week residency teaching customers stage-craft workshops and masterclasses, including acting training, audition and feedback workshops, as well as an introduction to dance and stage combat.
Selfridge’s shop windows will also be decorated with interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays as part of the celebrations.
Meanwhile, ‘The Shakespeare Edit’ will offer Shakespeare-inspired pieces, including exclusive dresses created especially for Selfridges by Alexander McQueen.
Shakespeare-inspired dresses will be created especially for Selfridges by Alexander McQueen
