Pre-school TV channel CBeebies has an admirable dedication to staging a Shakespeare play a year, and is indeed almost without question most British kids’ first taste of The Bard. Previously filmed in the BBC’s Salford studios, last summer’s ‘As You Like It’ saw the annual extravaganza make a leap to Shakespeare’s home turf of the Globe. And now it returns for 2023 and a slightly earlier May half-term slot. Although the main purpose is television transmission, there are four performances of the timeless mistaken identity comedy ‘Twelfth Night’ live in front of an audience.
As ever, don’t go thinking your three-year-old is going to have to wade through several hours of iambic pentameter: a few famous lines usually make an appearance, but generally it‘s a sort of larky paraphrasing of the play in question.
Casting is TBC but typically you can expect the real titans of the channel’s talent, from Andy Day to the mighty Mr Tumble.