“I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at; I am not what I am.”
This is one of the most famous lines from Othello, spoken by the treacherous Iago and revealing that he is prepared to act deceptively if it suits his motives.
Students will get the opportunity to watch Shakespeare’s play about love, revenge and betrayal for real when the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) streams its production of Othello direct to schools next year.
The five-act play will be broadcast to schools on March 17, 2016, reaching thousands of youngsters in the process.
The new curriculum for key stage 3 means that students are required to study two Shakespeare plays and the RSC believes that “one of the best ways to experience Shakespeare is to see it live”.
Jacqui O’Hanlon, the RSC’s director of education, said: “When people see a work in performance and participate in the live broadcast Shakespeare is brought to life in a way that it just can’t be when we read it just as words on the page.”
The RSC has already streamed five plays – Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Love’s Labour’s Won – to schools, reaching more than 60,000 students.
Its next broadcast to schools will be Henry V on November 19, although registration for this performance has now closed.
Following the screening of Othello, the RSC will broadcast The Merchant of Venice to schools on April 21 next year.
Schools interested in signing up to have Othello or The Merchant of Venice streamed to their classrooms should register via the RSC website at http://onscreen.rsc.org.uk/school-registration.aspx
The deadline for signing up for Othello is March 3 while the closing date to register for The Merchant of Venice is April 7.
The schools’ broadcasts are available free to all UK schools.