The Walt Disney Company and Sonia Friedman Productions have today announced that a Gala Performance of the stage production of Shakespeare in Love will be held at the Noël Coward Theatre in aid of The Rose Theatre Trust and Chickenshed Theatre.
These extraordinary theatre charities will share a gift of at least £35,000 from the performance and, additionally, theatregoers who book tickets for the world premiere production at the Noël Coward Theatre until September 2014 will be invited to donate £2 per ticket to be shared evenly between the charities.
The two charities were chosen to reflect both the history of the production and to celebrate a bright theatrical future.
The Rose Theatre Trust is a charity set up to protect, investigate and make publically available the site of the Rose Theatre on Bankside. The Rose is the setting for Shakespeare in Love. Built in 1587, this theatre was the first purpose-built playhouse on bank-side to stage a production of any of Shakespeare’s plays. When the Rose was discovered in 1989, The Trust successfully delayed construction and negotiated a re-design of the proposed new building and is now largely devoted to preparing to excavate the complete site and ensure the remains are put on display as a permanent resource for the public.