Bard City

We are here to celebrate and be inspired by the work of William Shakespeare.

We believe that the need for his language, stories and his deep understanding of the human experience is needed more than ever.

19/01/2026

As we step into 2026, we want to share that Bard City will be taking a pause from our in-person Shakespeare Workouts for the foreseeable future.

Over the past two years, these sessions have meant the world to us - creating together, meeting so many brilliant artists, and welcoming inspiring industry professionals into the room. Thank you to everyone who trained with us, and to those further afield who’ve supported us from afar.

Bard City began in New York in 2016 in response to many actors expressing a lack of opportunities to practice Shakespeare. We have always believed that Shakespeare is a muscle that needs constant training, and that is what we strive to provide. What began as a series of workshops grew in ambition and scale on both sides of the Atlantic, consistently aiming to build a community of actors, writers, directors, and anyone interested in Shakespeare. We honestly didn’t think we would be going almost a decade later!

This isn’t goodbye. We’re excited to find new ways to keep the Bard City community alive

Look out for one-off events, and please know we’re always keen to support your Shakespeare-themed work - just get in touch.

With love,
Owen & Harry

02/01/2026

Wishing all our Bard City family a Happy New Year. We hope your 2026 is filled with buckets of Shakespeare themed fun.

#2026

14/12/2025

Today was our last Shakespeare Workout of 2025 and it was a doozy! Big thanks to the brilliant for sharing his process on preparing for a role. And thanks to the fabulous actors who jumped in with both feet 👣

We explored:
• Finding the core truth of a character and relating it to our individual experience.
• How to expand/contract your character’s truth to different performance spaces and mediums.
• Ways to activate spontaneity when prepping a character and how to balance detailed preparation with organic flow.

Happy Holidays one and all! Hope you enjoy the festive break. 🎉🥂

Much love,
Team Bard City x

17/11/2025

A wonderful Sunday Shakespeare Workout yesterday.

We spent the afternoon exploring Declan Donnellan’s new book The Actor and The Space. Working through the ideas of the second space, thresholds and also the character’s dread as a motivation to action.

❤️

10/11/2025

Join stage and screen actor Oliver Alvin-Wilson (Troilus & Cressida, Shakespeare’s Globe; Curfew, Paramount+) as he breaks down his process for preparing for various acting challenges.

Focusing on three Shakespeare characters Oliver has played, including Othello & Hector, this practical workshop will give you tools to get rehearsal ready for any process. How do you adjust your preparation to take into account the director’s style? How do you prepare specifically enough while maintaining a flexibility in your choices?

Through guided exercises, scene work and discussion, we will examine how preparation, research, and imaginative play combine in professional practice. By the end of the session you’ll have developed strategies for approaching any Shakespeare play with clarity and creativity.

SHAKESPEARE WORKOUT: PREPPING FOR A ROLE
⏰ Sunday Dec 14th, 3-6pm
📍 Old Diorama Arts Centre
🎟️ £35. Ticket link in bio.

Oliver’s theatre credits include: Troilus & Cressida (Shakespeare’s Globe), Dr Strangelove (West End), Now, I See (Stratford East), Disruption (Park Theatre); All of Us (National Theatre); Henry VI Rebellion/War of the Roses (RSC); Samskara (The Yard Theatre); The Doctor (Almeida Theatre); The Twilight Zone (Ambassadors Theatre); Nine Night (Trafalgar Studios); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Young Vic Theatre); The Red Barn (National Theatre); Othello (Stratford Gatehouse Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Propeller Theatre Company); The Merchant of Venice (Propeller Theatre Company); Antigone Adapted by Roy Williams (Royal Stratford East Theatre); Henry V (Propeller Theatre Company) and more. His film and TV credits include: Harkness (Orchard Films); Wonder Woman 1984 (Warner Bros); The Huntsman (Universal Pictures); Curfew (Vertigo for Paramount+); The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power (Amazon) and more.

14/10/2025

📣 NEW WORKSHOP ANNOUNCED 📣

Declan Donnellan’s book The Actor and the Space has been described as ‘a hand gr***de of a book… it contains all the humility and chutzpah you need to work in the theatre’ (Cate Blanchett)

In this practical workshop, Cheek By Jowl Associate Owen Horsley will guide participants through the key concepts of Donnellan’s book - including the Predicament, the Thresholds, and the Character’s Dread - with a special focus on how the space itself can inspire and energise our acting choices.

As with all of Donnellan’s methods, this is not a traditional “how-to” class. Instead, it offers a series of practical exercises designed to help actors move beyond blocks, rediscover creative freedom, and find fresh inspiration from the world outside themselves. Participants will explore how external stimuli can deepen their connection to character, text, and the play’s inner life.

No prior knowledge of the book is required — just curiosity and a willingness to explore.

WORKSHOP: THE ACTOR AND THE SPACE (led by )
⏰ Sunday 16th November, 3-6pm
📍 Old Diorama Arts Centre
🎟️ £35. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/workshop-the-actor-and-the-space-led-by-owen-horsley-tickets-1810351152029

12/10/2025

A fantastic workout today with the brilliant exploring rage in Much Ado about Nothing. Huge thank you to Chelsea and all our wonderful participants. Amazing work! 🍊

06/10/2025

Meet Chelsea Walker - our guest practitioner for this Sunday’s Shakespeare Workout! Chelsea is an award-winning director, working in theatre and on screen.

The Guardian wrote about Chelsea’s recent production of All’s Well That Ends Well at Shakespeare’s Globe: “The beauty of director Chelsea Walker’s production is that it exposes the clashing human desires in the drama rather than attempting to paste over them. Humour sits beside unease and crisscrossing romantic passions are laid bare.” 💥

Chelsea’s other theatre credits include: Visit From an Unknown Woman (Hampstead Theatre), This Much I Know (Hampstead Theatre), On the Beach (Sheffield Crucible), Missing Julie (Theatre Clwyd), Hedda Gabler (Sherman Theatre), Cougar (Orange Tree Theatre) and A Streetcar Named Desire (UK Tour).  
Chelsea will be bringing out the complexity within Much Ado About Nothing’s failed wedding scene, asking the questions: How do we root bold decisions in emotional truth? And how do we release rage and sustain it?

Intrigued? There are only a handful of tickets left - follow the link in bio to bag one. 👉

29/09/2025

Wit, war, and wedding bells collide in this month’s Online Workout! Zoom in and explore Shakespeare’s sharpest comedy with us. 🥊

ONLINE SHAKESPEARE WORKOUT: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
⏰ Tuesday 14th Oct, 7.30-9pm (BST)
📍 Via Zoom
🎟️ £12. Link in bio.

Led by , our online sessions are fun, investigative and low-stakes. We know that not everyone can attend our London in-person sessions, and we want to make our offerings accessible to everyone, wherever you’re based. All experience levels welcome - come along and try and try it out!

23/09/2025

“I would eat his heart in the marketplace...” 
Shakespeare loves to play with genre – letting his comedies dive into troubling darkness, and peppering his tragedies with absurd laughter. And in doing so, he allows his characters to live big, bold, conflicting emotions. Love sits alongside rage, hope accompanies despair and reason grows out of chaos. 
Led by award-winning director Chelsea Walker , this session will take a deep dive into one of Shakespeare’s most problematic scenes – Much Ado’s failed wedding. How do we root bold decisions in emotional truth? And how do we release rage and sustain it? 
SHAKESPEARE WORKOUT: RELEASE THE RAGE
⏰ Sunday 12th October, 3-6pm
📍 Old Diorama Arts Centre
🎟️ £35. Link in bio.

Chelsea Walker is an award-winning director, working in theatre and on screen. Her theatre credits include: All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare’s Globe), Visit From an Unknown Woman (Hampstead Theatre), This Much I Know (Hampstead Theatre), On the Beach (Sheffield Crucible), Missing Julie (Theatre Clwyd), Hedda Gabler (Sherman Theatre), Cougar (Orange Tree Theatre) and A Streetcar Named Desire (UK Tour).

In 2017 she won the RTST Sir Peter Hall Award and toured her critically acclaimed production of A Streetcar Named Desire around the UK. She has twice been a finalist for the JMK Directors Award, winning the runner up prize in 2016; has twice been nominated for an Off West End Best Director Award; and twice nominated for a UK Theatre Award. In 2016 she was a director on the Old Vic 12.

16/09/2025

A fabulous Shakespeare Workout session last weekend exploring parent-child relationships in Shakespeare. This small but mighty group threw themselves in and we made some fantastic discoveries about power shifts and parental insecurities in the plays.

Erica Whyman also joined us to discuss her directing career, her process for working with actors and her thoughts on making Shakespeare relevant today. A proper inspiration - thanks Erica!

We’re back on Oct 12th, 3-6pm for RELEASE THE RAGE, led by . Tickets are already selling well for this session, so book now to avoid disappointment.

Much love,
Team Bard City ❤️

12/09/2025

Which of Shakespeare’s plays deserves a sequel?

Macbeth Returns? Julius Caesar 2: The Empire Strikes Back? Tell us yours below 👇

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