One of the UK's leading wildlife research charities is to benefit from an open-air production of Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' at Glemham Hall in Suffolk this July.
The performance will take place on Saturday 5 July and will raise funds for the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT). The Trust's recent high-profile work includes the first Big Farmland Bird Count and its longstanding 30 year research on the elusive woodcock, including the setting up of a dedicated website; woodcockwatch.com website, which tracks the migration paths of one of Britain's most mysterious birds to its breeding grounds in Russia, and across eastern Europe via satellite tagging.
The Suffolk Community Foundation, which supports local charities and community groups throughout the county, will also benefit from the performance.
This is the fifteenth year that the Castle Theatre Company has brought Shakespeare to the spacious gardens of Glemham Hall and follows their recent acclaimed productions of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in 2012 and last year's interpretation of 'As You Like It'.
The first recorded performance of 'Twelfth Night, or What You Will' took place in 1602 and the play has been described by renowned scholar Harold Bloom as "surely the greatest of all Shakespeare's pure comedies". Its most beloved characters include the steward Malvolio and the clown Feste, and it added such well-known phrases as "If music be the food of love, play on" and "Some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them" to the English language. The company promises their production will be "a wonderfully atmospheric and utterly English evening of pastoral comedy, gender confusion, romance, disguise, revelry and pretence".
The gardens at Glemham Hall will be open for picnics from 5.30pm, with the two-and-a-half hour performance beginning at 7pm. Tickets purchased in advance are priced at £20 per head for adults and £12 for under 20s, discounted to £18 and £10 respectively for groups of 10 or more. For more information please call 01728 746704 or email events@glemhamhall.co.uk. To learn more about the GWCT please visit www.gwct.org.uk.
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Photocaption: Earlier open air performances in the grounds of Glemham Hall include this 2012 production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
Notes to editors
The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust – providing research-led conservation for a thriving countryside. The GWCT is an independent wildlife conservation charity which has carried out scientific research into Britain’s game and wildlife since the 1930s. We advise farmers and landowners on improving wildlife habitats. We employ 22 post-doctoral scientists and 50 other research staff with expertise in areas such as birds, insects, mammals, farming, fish and statistics. We undertake our own research as well as projects funded by contract and grant-aid from Government and private bodies. The Trust is also responsible for a number of Government Biodiversity Action Plan species and is lead partner for grey partridge and joint lead partner for brown hare and black grouse.
For information, contact:
Eleanor Williams
Telephone: 07592 025476
Email: press@gwct.org.uk