![Robert Cohen as Shakespeare in "Propaganda](/siteimages/12/6/9/126987/2249189.jpg "Robert Cohen as Shakespeare in "Propaganda")
The following Early Day Motion was proposed by Susan Kramer MP in 2008:
That this House applauds and supports continuing plans within the arts community first put forward by Equity to instigate a nationwide Great British Shakespeare Event to coincide with the Olympics in 2012; acknowledges the proud tradition of the Olympic Games in ancient Athens to combine sport with the great dramas of Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus; recognises the unprecedented cultural opportunity of reviving and honouring that tradition in Britain across all ages, faiths, cultures and social groups by celebrating the works of the man widely acknowledged to be our greatest playwright; recognises the tremendous boost this would give not only to the arts community but also to tourism; and calls on the Government to support, encourage and promote grass-roots plans to take forward this celebration.
The motion from the West and South West London Branch to the 2006 Annual Representative Conference of the performers' union Equity was passed with a handsome majority and is as follows:
"This Annual Representative Conference welcomes the success of London in its bid for the Olympic Games in 2012. Conference is also aware that the bid included a cultural component which is yet to be developed. In the spirit of the original Olympic Games in Athens, where drama co-existed at high status along with the athletics, Conference hopes that all the performers of Britain can be involved in an imaginative and unprecedented celebration of culture, entertainment, and performance in addition to the sport, binding together for the first time in history all cultures, races, ages, and traditions, not just in London, but across the whole country. Conference therefore urges the Equity Council to consider ideas which have been discussed at West and South West London Branch for a Great British Shakespeare celebration in 2012, to give work opportunities to all our members and enable them to liaise with people of all ages in an imaginative participatory festivity across the country. This will make the year of the Games the first year ever in which our greatest writer is brought to every town, village, and school in the land, and is brought back to the people with drama, song, music, and dance. Alongside the Olympics, this will also be an irresistible attraction for thousands of visitors from abroad. Conference recognises that this should entail no further burden of work or expense for Equity itself, but trusts the Council to do all in its power to make this practical proposal come to fruition."
The following interview appeared in the Equity Magazine, Spring 2009
see
Equity Magazine Spring 2009
"Bard Attitudes"
"Ian Flintoff wants to challenge the Olympics with Shakespeare 2012"
Ian Flintoff has a plan that could change the way the public think about theatre and Shakespeare, and might just provide work for thousands of members of Equity!
The first thing you notice when you sit down with Ian Flintoff to talk about his campaign for a national celebration of Shakespeare to coincide with the London Olympics in 2012 is his boundless enthusiasm for his subject. He’s clearly a man who cares deeply about creating something extraordinary, something that could change the way the public thinks about theatre, but he’s also determined to do it in a way that means it isn’t just a vehicle for a few stars and some high profile companies. It would be relatively easy to focus on a few big theatres and some big stars, but Ian wants to do it the hard way – in schools and local communities – all over the nation.
The second thing you notice is that he appears, single-handedly, to have spoken to half the nation about his project already. Ask him a question about what he wants to achieve and he’ll reel you off a list of interested parties, chance encounters and potential targets. And it isn’t just the great and the good – although he can casually pull from his briefcase letters of support from Prince Charles or 10 Downing Street – the things that get him really excited are the anecdotes about working in schools or persuading a group of young Muslim girls to perform Gertrude’s speech from Hamlet or blagging his way into a council office to try and persuade arts officers in Preston that their town’s (perhaps tenuous) link with the Bard means they have a duty to get involved in Shakespeare 2012.
When he came for a chat with the Equity magazine, we asked him where the ideas behind Shakespeare 2012 got started.
"It actually goes back to 2004 and a casual chat amongst members at the West and South West London branch and we sent a suggestion then to the Prime Minister at Number 10, which was Tony Blair at the time. Originally it was a plan to have the first ever historic Shakespeare celebration – a stand alone event which was then called Shakespeare 2010. The great thing was that they responded very positively and passed us on to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport who discussed it and they liked it very much. But it didn’t seem to them viable as a free standing idea but if we could link it to the Olympic bid in 2012 that would be a good idea. So I, of course, said yes to that."
Having started the ball rolling, the official bid document submitted by London included a pledge that there would be an international Shakespeare festival as part of the Olympics. There has been support in Parliament, including an Early Day Motion put forward by Susan Kramer MP, and there have been advances. The Royal Shakespeare Company is in the early stages of planning their "World Shakespeare Festival" which will encompass London, Stratford and Newcastle and there are plans for the Globe to hold events.
Ian Flintoff has been talking to the organisers of these events and he’s excited by them and he’s keen for them to be a big success, but that’s not the limit of his ambitions for Shakespeare 2012. He wants a grassroots network that is spread across the whole country.
"What we’d really like to happen is the first really big national jamboree of Shakespeare, something that’s such fun that it takes that feeling of elitism and the idea that it’s just a school subject away from the plays," Ian said. "The RSC will have their event, the Globe Theatre in London will have their event, but what we’d like to think of is Equity playing a prominent role – we’ve got so many members and a big network across the country – in tapping into local theatres and trying to persuade them to do, say, three professional plays – a comedy, a tragedy and a history – in 2012. Talking to councils and local arts and educations officers and bringing Shakespeare to cities, towns and even villages."
The second thing you notice is that he appears, single-handedly, to have spoken to half the nation about his project already. Ask him a question about what he wants to achieve and he’ll reel you off a list of interested parties, chance encounters and potential targets. And it isn’t just the great and the good – although he can casually pull from his briefcase letters of support from Prince Charles or 10 Downing Street – the things that get him really excited are the anecdotes about working in schools or persuading a group of young Muslim girls to perform Gertrude’s speech from Hamlet or blagging his way into a council office to try and persuade arts officers in Preston that their town’s (perhaps tenuous) link with the Bard means they have a duty to get involved in Shakespeare 2012.
When he came for a chat with the Equity magazine, we asked him where the ideas behind Shakespeare 2012 got started.
"It actually goes back to 2004 and a casual chat amongst members at the West and South West London branch and we sent a suggestion then to the Prime Minister at Number 10, which was Tony Blair at the time. Originally it was a plan to have the first ever historic Shakespeare celebration – a stand alone event which was then called Shakespeare 2010. The great thing was that they responded very positively and passed us on to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport who discussed it and they liked it very much. But it didn’t seem to them viable as a free standing idea but if we could link it to the Olympic bid in 2012 that would be a good idea. So I, of course, said yes to that."
Having started the ball rolling, the official bid document submitted by London included a pledge that there would be an international Shakespeare festival as part of the Olympics. There has been support in Parliament, including an Early Day Motion put forward by Susan Kramer MP, and there have been advances. The Royal Shakespeare Company is in the early stages of planning their "World Shakespeare Festival" which will encompass London, Stratford and Newcastle and there are plans for the Globe to hold events.
Ian Flintoff has been talking to the organisers of these events and he’s excited by them and he’s keen for them to be a big success, but that’s not the limit of his ambitions for Shakespeare 2012. He wants a grassroots network that is spread across the whole country.
"What we’d really like to happen is the first really big national jamboree of Shakespeare, something that’s such fun that it takes that feeling of elitism and the idea that it’s just a school subject away from the plays," Ian said. "The RSC will have their event, the Globe Theatre in London will have their event, but what we’d like to think of is Equity playing a prominent role – we’ve got so many members and a big network across the country – in tapping into local theatres and trying to persuade them to do, say, three professional plays – a comedy, a tragedy and a history – in 2012. Talking to councils and local arts and educations officers and bringing Shakespeare to cities, towns and even villages."
But there is more to Ian’s plan for Shakespeare 2012 than a great big party. This is a chance to create work for Equity’s members – and not just the actors and those who traditionally work in "straight" theatre. He’d love to see variety branches take up the challenge and do something really inventive with the idea of celebrating Shakespeare. What he’d love, though, is if the event marked a year where every Equity member could work on a Shakespearian project.
"We probably still have the reputation for producing the finest actors in the world but there’s a lot of talent that doesn’t get used. The number of out of work actors is enormous. This for me is the one opportunity when we can use everybody – the reason why Shakespeare wrote those plays is because he knew he had a Richard Burbage in his company who could do Richard the Third. It’s the actors who make those plays."
He is asking Equity branches and regional committees to establish Shakespeare 2012 networks – bringing together all those interested in promoting the event – and to appoint "Shakespeare 2012 Champions" who will promote the campaign to local theatres, local authorities, schools and the press and act as a link with other efforts around the country. Equity has set up a coordinating committee to develop that national grid of volunteers.
"If at the end of the year we had a network of Shakespeare Champions – the idea that we have someone in Warrington, Leicester, Bodmin – an Equity member who is really keen on this idea who can talk to the theatres and the schools and the press – a network across the UK and Champions in every part of the country, then of course we’ll be looking for the support of the profession’s best known faces and approaching industry for money, but first we need to build the foundation. When we’ve proved we can organise right across the country and we have enthusiastic networks in towns and cities, then we can start talking about the endorsement of stars and business and getting the money."
2012 might seem some distance away, but Ian Flintoff is determined to start the ball rolling now. "We need to start planning. We need to have the network in place by the end of the year and we then want to start talking to theatres and schools and others because you can’t simply dump this on them at the last minute. We have to be thinking forward.
"We want to up the ante between now and the end of the year so that wherever there is a group of Equity people in town or city, we are building networks and laying the foundations."
Ian Flintoff’s plans are ambitious – productions in every major town if he can, and beyond that if possible. Work opportunities for thousands of members (he jokes that one reason for choosing Shakespeare is that the casts are bigger than Beckett) and a celebration that would change the way that people think of the theatre.
"With sufficient imagination and sufficient courage we could give people back the sense of intensity that only comes from live performance," Ian said. "To make people, especially young people, feel that Shakespeare and all good drama isn’t for other people, it’s for everyone, I think that would be a legacy to go on for a century. We won’t have built a lot of new theatres but we might catch the imagination of the public and bring them back to theatres and show them how good it can be. I think that’s worth chasing. It would be a precedent – if we can do it with Shakespeare it would be easier for others to follow our lead."
"We probably still have the reputation for producing the finest actors in the world but there’s a lot of talent that doesn’t get used. The number of out of work actors is enormous. This for me is the one opportunity when we can use everybody – the reason why Shakespeare wrote those plays is because he knew he had a Richard Burbage in his company who could do Richard the Third. It’s the actors who make those plays."
He is asking Equity branches and regional committees to establish Shakespeare 2012 networks – bringing together all those interested in promoting the event – and to appoint "Shakespeare 2012 Champions" who will promote the campaign to local theatres, local authorities, schools and the press and act as a link with other efforts around the country. Equity has set up a coordinating committee to develop that national grid of volunteers.
"If at the end of the year we had a network of Shakespeare Champions – the idea that we have someone in Warrington, Leicester, Bodmin – an Equity member who is really keen on this idea who can talk to the theatres and the schools and the press – a network across the UK and Champions in every part of the country, then of course we’ll be looking for the support of the profession’s best known faces and approaching industry for money, but first we need to build the foundation. When we’ve proved we can organise right across the country and we have enthusiastic networks in towns and cities, then we can start talking about the endorsement of stars and business and getting the money."
2012 might seem some distance away, but Ian Flintoff is determined to start the ball rolling now. "We need to start planning. We need to have the network in place by the end of the year and we then want to start talking to theatres and schools and others because you can’t simply dump this on them at the last minute. We have to be thinking forward.
"We want to up the ante between now and the end of the year so that wherever there is a group of Equity people in town or city, we are building networks and laying the foundations."
Ian Flintoff’s plans are ambitious – productions in every major town if he can, and beyond that if possible. Work opportunities for thousands of members (he jokes that one reason for choosing Shakespeare is that the casts are bigger than Beckett) and a celebration that would change the way that people think of the theatre.
"With sufficient imagination and sufficient courage we could give people back the sense of intensity that only comes from live performance," Ian said. "To make people, especially young people, feel that Shakespeare and all good drama isn’t for other people, it’s for everyone, I think that would be a legacy to go on for a century. We won’t have built a lot of new theatres but we might catch the imagination of the public and bring them back to theatres and show them how good it can be. I think that’s worth chasing. It would be a precedent – if we can do it with Shakespeare it would be easier for others to follow our lead."
WILL YOU BECOME A SHAKESPEARE CHAMPION?
If you’d like to get in touch with Ian to offer your support you can contact him by post at: Shakespeare 2012, 5 Orchard Court, Rose Hill, Oxford, OX4 4HJ
by telephone: 01865 715870 or 07710 296280
and by email: shakespeare2012@aol.com
by telephone: 01865 715870 or 07710 296280
and by email: shakespeare2012@aol.com
