The London department store Selfridges – identifiable by its prominent yellow branding – is set to launch an 100-seat theatre this summer, that will allow customers to watch a Shakespeare production being rehearsed and performed within the store. In what appears to be a first for the performing arts, the department store will dip into its artistic side in order to provide its shoppers and other theatrical audiences with some theatre in its Oxford Street store in London.
In addition to Shakespearean delights in store, Selfridges has also teamed up with drama school RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts) to provide two weeks of workshops and masterclasses for shoppers. RADA will precede the theatre company with a two-week residency from 4 July, offering customers workshops and masterclasses in areas such as stage combat. It is unclear as to how popular these sessions will be for shoppers, but an innovative idea nonetheless.
The store will have a traverse stage, a box office, a designer royal box and a bespoke lighting rig from White Light, forming the Refashioned Theatre. In presenting Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Selfridges has teamed up with theatre company the Faction. The theatre company will offer audiences and shoppers the chance to watch rehearsals, which Selfridges has compared to the experience shoppers have while looking at its own window displays. Marrying shopping with art can seem a vast leap, however the elements are similar in making passive observations of what is being presented. Rehearsals are in action, running in the space from 18 July to 22 August, with the play being performed from 23 August to 24 September.
The play will feature nine actors, in addition five digital cameos where images will be projected on to shop mannequins, integrating the two further. The new collaboration will go just some way in celebrating Shakespeare400 this year.