• Try your hand at stage fighting

• Get info on theatre careers from RSC professionals

• Be the first to tour the RSC Scenic Workshops where the sets are designed and constructed

• Dance, act, make music and explore the possibilities of your voice

THEATREFAIR '99 - INSIDE OUT Monday 28 June - Friday 2 July 1999

Discover how bodies can be transformed, try your hand at stage fighting, dance 10 to the bar, find your voice and look at gender bending in Shakespeare...

THEATREFAIR '99 is a five-day festival of over forty events when the public can go behind the scenes to meet the people who make the magic. Many of the sessions are totally hands-on and give participants a chance to try out a range of theatrical techniques. Located under canvas in the Swan Theatre gardens, THEATREFAIR has activities for all ages.

Children as young as 7 will create their own performances based on A Midsummer Night's Dream with members of the acting company. Head of the RSC Wig and MakeUp Department demonstrates how faces and bodies can be transformed using paint and putty. For the first time we invite the public to tour the RSC Scenic Workshops where the sets are designed and constructed. Marcello Magni, Director and Performer with Theatre d'Complicité, leads a workshop exploring the use of the mask. Nicky Reid, a musician working on ‘Oroonoko’, explores the big beat inviting people to make music using African percussion.

All week there will be free events including readings from TS Eliot and Ted Hughes by members of the acting company. Whether you want to be an actor, wig maker, painter or administrator, RSC professionals will be on hand at the career desk to give advice.

Tickets are available from the RSC box office: (01789) 295623, in person at the RST foyer box office or on the day in the box office in the foyer of the Swan Theatre. Tickets are £2.50 per session, many events are free and there are discounts for school parties.

THEATREFAIR '99 is part of the RSC's On The Edge Programme. On the Edge is sponsored by BG plc. THEATREFAIR '99 is also supported by Jaguar and LDV.