RSC announces amateur companies for Dream tour

The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced the 14 UK amateur groups that will feature in its forthcoming tour A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Play for the Nation.

The groups, drawn from across the UK, will play the Mechanicals – including Bottom – alongside a company of professional actors in Erica Whyman's production.

The participating groups are:

WEST MIDLANDS: The Nonentities from Kidderminster and The Bear Pit from Stratford-upon-Avon
NORTH EAST: The Castle Players from County Durham and The People’s Theatre from Newcastle
SCOTLAND: The Citizens Dream Players from Glasgow
NORTH WEST: Poulton Drama from Blackpool
YORKSHIRE: Leeds Arts Centre from Leeds, performing in Bradford
SOUTH EAST: The Canterbury Players from Canterbury
EAST OF ENGLAND: The Common Lot from Norfolk
EAST MIDLANDS: Lovelace Theatre Group from Hucknall, performing in Nottingham
SOUTH WEST: Carnon Downs Drama Group from Truro
LONDON: Tower Theatre from East London
WALES: Everyman Theatre from Cardiff
NORTHERN IRELAND: Belvoir Players from Belfast

The RSC's creative team auditioned 586 amateur theatre makers in 95 workshops. Each group represents a region or nation of the UK.

Whyman said: "We have cast people from all kinds of backgrounds, with a wonderful range of voices, shapes and sizes, but every single one of them has already demonstrated tremendous courage, skill and hard work to have survived the audition process and be selected to star in A Midsummer Night's Dream."

The BBC will film the experiences of the groups taking part in a film with the working title The Best Bottoms In the Land, which will be screened as part of the broadcaster's Shakespeare celebrations in 2016.

A Midsummer Night's Dream opens in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon from 17 February to 5 March 2016 before touring nationwide. For further details click here.