Royal Shakespeare Reviews 

Saddened to learn there are different pricing strategies in place dependent on one’s choice of school. What next? A different pricing policy dependent on where you live? Urge this company to reconsider this unnecessary and unfair practice.

The Royal Shakespeare Company claims to be committed to equality, diversity and dismantling structural inequalities. Yet they charge £10 for state school pupils and £16.50 for independent school pupils, solely based on which school a child attends.

This policy discriminates against children in independent schools, many of whom may be there on bursaries, scholarships, or through personal sacrifice. It is based on assumptions about class and wealth that are both lazy and exclusionary.

The RSC’s own words say they want to combat prejudice and systemic barriers. This pricing policy does the opposite. It reinforces divisions and punishes children based on a stereotype.

All children should be treated equally. The arts should bring people together, not drive them apart.

Discriminatory pricing policy against independent school pupils. Disgusting !

Discrimination! SEN kids who attend independent schools charged more than state children. Boycott the RSC…won’t be attending anymore

I note with disgust the discriminatory pricing policy where independent schools are penalised with higher pricing than their state educated peers. No such discrimination occurs in ticketing for cinemas, concerts or sporting events.

I was raised in the Stratford on Avon area and have been a supporter of the RSC. I will be changing my will so that the RSC will no longer be a beneficiary.

Apparently children who attend an independant school are different to children who attend a state school and therefore should pay £6.50 MORE for their ticket !!!! Do you have a different entrace and seating area for these independant school children who are being excluded??? Should we start charging different prices for those of a different colour, gender, sexual orientation ???? Disgraceful!!!!

Disgusting pricing policy. Charging more for certain children just because of the type of school they attend. Am I seeing that right? Absolutely shocking!

Dreadful! Only total imbeciles would introduce two tier pricing FOR CHILDREN! Whoever is responsible for this decision deserves the boot. Cheap shot and well below the belt. Will be boycotting.

How can you have a 2 tier pricing system, charging more for children attending independent schools? It's outright discrimination and I hope someone raises this in court or you do the right thing, apologise for this policy and reverse it.

Absolutely disgraceful pricing policy that discriminates between state and independent school children. This is not a government policy, it is a discriminatory choice made by yourselves. As a result of this we will no longer be booking with you as we would not want to come and spend an evening in a place where you have made a judgement about our child because we chose to independently educate him due to additional needs that couldn’t be met in the state sector. We drive a car worth £200 and save to be able to do this. Unlike many people who buy expensive houses in prime catchment areas to great state schools and drive range rovers who will now benefit further from your outright discrimination. This is abhorrent.

Am I seeing this correctly? You are charging independent school children more? Not all private school families are rich! Outrageous money grab based on lies in the media. Very disappointed

Discrimination-SEN children, working class back ground where we lived in a homeless house-kids now in private education. The tickets now cost more than if they were in state. Why have a 2 tier policy? Why do this to children? Sick and twisted.

Shocked to hear there’s a two tier ticketing policy for schools. Disappointing for my SEN kids. Boycott

Planned an evening from the US to watch Hamelet. Was denied after purchasing tickets because of having a child with us. No where on the ticket purchasing was this stated. They did offer a refund to our tickets, but our time and evening is irreparably ruined.

Four of us went to see Twelfth Night at Stratford. It was wonderful! The modern set did not distract from the words of the Bard, in fact they were enhanced by the superb direction of Prasanna Puwanarajah, the amazing music score of Matt Maltese which brought the songs into the 21st century, and, of course the brilliant acting of all the players. We laughed and laughed so much, it was a real tonic for the soul. Bravo!!!

Visited the RSC at Stratford on Avon 25th September to see the Romeo and Juliet performance by the Northern Ballet company. What a production, from the athletic, elegant, artistic, sublime dancers, the choreography and staging absolutely superb 5 Stars all round, congratulations Northern Ballet, an excellent production that moved me.

The Buddha of Suburbia Review

Introduction

The play, The Budda of Suburbia is based on Hanif Kureishi’s award winning 1990 novel. It was directed and adapted for the theatre by Emma Rice and Hanif Kureishi. The story is semi-autobiographic and is about a dual heritage, 17-year-old boy called Karim Amir and his family and friends in the suburbs of London.

Storyline

In the Buddha of suburbia, Karim’s race and class played a significant part in his life. At the very beginning of the play Karim explained to the audience about his school life, about him being a victim of racism and the way he was treated. Later, in the play Jamila’s (Karim’s best friend) husband (Changez) was attacked by a racist gang who made fun of him being Indian. These points are important to include in the play to show that Karim was affected by racism.



Karim’s class in England also affected his childhood, we were told that Karim’s family, when they were in India, did not work and they had freedom. This in the play is represented by playing cricket. When they moved to England Karim’s Dad (Haroon) had to work, he struggled to find work, having never done so before, so he became a Buddhist (the Buddha of Suburbia). This is how the class system is mentioned in the play.

Set

The set of the play was created well, there was a large platform on the actual stage where the door and garden were attached to, and the upstairs was positioned diagonally up from the platform. I think this was cleverly built to be able to see everyone at one time.

Also, the actors would occasionally get changed at the back of the stage where everyone could see them, they would never change into a different character, (many of the actors played multiple characters throughout the play) just a different outfit. I found this interesting that the cast was almost inviting the audience backstage.

Performance

The overall performance was amazing, it was well polished and perfected and all the actors were outstanding. The parts that I particularly liked were when Karim would talk to the audience explaining the moment whilst everyone else on the stage were frozen or in slow motion. I think that this works well to focus the people’s attention on Karim and to what he was saying.

I also found that the lighting and sound played a huge part in what the atmosphere and scene was like and the way that they created the outside and the inside depended quite a lot on the lighting and sound.

Conclusion

I would definitely recommend this play, it is funny, the actors are brilliant and there is never a dull moment. One of my favourite parts of the play is how none of the actors ever break character and they always focus on what they are doing and not anyone else (like the in sync dancing). I think that that is what makes the play so professional and with no mistakes.

The think that the one thing that was a bit confusing was when the actors played multiple characters, for example when the same actress who had played Karim’s mother (Margert) also played his lover (Elenor), I first found this misleading but later I managed to catch on.

I can't comment on the shows they do, but the customer service is non existent. I have purchased the tickets for me and my daughter to go to see a show and by mistake when entering my email address I made an error (totally my fault), after realising it, I email them via provided contact details to advise what happened and requested if they could sent me tickets to the right email address which I provided, I hear absolutely nothing from them. Chased them multiple times on different emails I could find on the web and heard nothing.

Many thanks,
Asta