London Shakespeare Workout (LSW) 

LSW employs the works of Shakespeare alongside those of other major
Dramatic/Cinematic/Musical writers and thinkers as a tool
towards effective interaction in order to (a) create new work
and (b) promote confidence through the will to dream for all.

Since 26th October 1997 LSW has (i) established the hugely successful and unique 'Shakespeare 
Workouts' (as founded by Dr. Bruce Wall, LSW's Executive Director, aside
Dame Dorothy Tutin) and involved the interactive participation of over 12,000 professional
performers and 9,000 offenders/ex-offenders; (ii) given noted presentations/workshops in venues
ranging from the House of Lords to the United Nations; from Scotland Yard to Broadway
and has (iii) established itself as an effective producer of quality professional theatre in venues ranging
from HMP Pentonville to the Royal Opera House; from the Norwich Playhouse to the West End's Criterion
and Palladium Theatres; from the beautiful 'Egg' at the Theatre Royal Bath in Somerset to the
Stephan Joseph Theatre in North Yorkshire; from the Battersea Arts Centre to the
Royal Shakespeare Company's Swan Theatre (Straford Upon Avon, UK) in an Educational launch
with the RSC as well as in incentives involving the Canadian Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario to
membership in such European undertakings as the Prisons Arts Network and the Will to Dream Incentive. 
LSW has enjoyed involvement in endeavours in countries spanning Bulgaria, Slovakia, Estonia, Austria, Spain, Brazil,
the Czech Republic, Malta, Italy, Ireland, the United States, Wales, Canada, Uganda, Northern Ireland, China, Chile,
India, Germany and Norway among others.  In tandem with the London Business School, LSW developed
the successful Corporate programme (Willing Dreams) proactively running programmes for a wide range of
major corporate entities including Sony-Ericsson, CelTel, Glaxo Smith Kline, the Metropolitan Police,
Deutsche Bank, Lloyds TSB and Danone and continues to operate Dramatic Workshops in a vast array
of educational organisations ranging from all leading members of the Conference of Drama Schools (CDS)
to Educational Departments within 100 different English Prisons and the Military Corrective Training Centre;
from the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts to Trinity College, Dublin; from a relationship with BADA
(the British American Drama Academy) to incentives involving both Cambridge (ETC & ADC)
and Oxford (OUDS) Universities as well as multitudinous sessions involving students in schools at all levels
throughout the United Kingdom (including programmes at such historic institutions as Bedales, Uppingham, Kings,
King Williams College on the Isle of Man and the McAuley School in Doncaster); from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
(where on-going programmes have successfully been undertaken for the past decade) to a large number of presentations for 
noted organisations spanning The Young Presidents Association to Rainer's REST (resettlement) initiatives 
and both the Bath Shakespeare Festival and the Shakespeare Institute's British Shakespeare Conference.  

THEATRICAL PRESENTATIONS

Among the world premiere presentations LSW has successfully produced are
VOICES (ROH, Oxford Playhouse, ADC); HOMAGE BEHIND (Criterion Theatre);
ALBA (HMP Send & Criterion Theatre); BLACKING IAGO (HMP Brixton, BBC2 & National Theatres spanning
Theatre Royal Bath to Alnwick Playhouse); BLACK ATLAS (appearing nationally in theatres spanning Hull Truck to the
Cambridge Arts Theatre) and the original musical LIFTING THE MASK (again appearing throughout UK's professional
theatrical venues and additionally opening several new British venues). Celebrated original versions of Shakespeare's plays have
also been presented including THE WAX KING (Henry VI, Pt. 3); SHAKESPEARE 'N SINATRA (The Winter's Tale) and
ANIMATING MACBETHS as well as early productions of TWELTH NIGHT and ANTONY & CLEOPATRA.  In 2008
LSW presented the 90 minute ROUNDING SHAKESPEARE at the California Mens Colony in California
about which a Los Angeles Times feature was written, photographs taken by the esteemed Georgia Oetker,
and a multitude of responses from the men (prisoners) involved can be found by clicking here. 
You can additionally see film clips embedded from a 2009 prison programme in Santiago, Chile here.

TIM WILLIAMS AWARDS

Since 2009 in memory of LSW's late Musical Director, Tim Williams, the charity has been sponsoring an awards
programme celebrating the art of theatrical song composition, specifically as it relates to lyrics either drawn from
or inspired by classical/established sources not originally intended to be sung.  This has led the the hugely successful
programmes FIRST TIME (2009), READINESS IS ALL (2009), OUT OF THE PIANO (2010) and
WHEN YOU HEAR MY VOICE (June 2011)  A twenty five song sampling from 2009-2010 can be heard here
and highlight videos from the 2011 TWA programme can be seen here.

UPCOMING

In January/February 2012 LSW will be undertaking a theatrical project in association
with the young offenders division (YOURS) of the Corradino Correctional Facility (CCF) in Malta.
Historically, WHEN YOUHEAR MY VOICE will involve a team of international professionals and young
offenders performing 'outside' at the St. James Cavalier Theatre alongside the creation of a feature-length
documentary concerning the restorative effect of literacy by the noted film maker, Natasha Serlin.

LSW Productions has also been responsible for the independent production of eleven
half hour documentaries including the internationally acclaimed HOW DO YOU KNOW
MY DAUGHTER? and KILLING BIRDS: ANIMATING MACBETHS
alongside twenty one shorts and the development of the successful 'Will to Dream' Digital Video
Shooting and Editing Training Programmes. 

 Among the huge number of talented artists who have actively
shared their gifts with LSW over the past 15 years are Sir Jonathan Miller, Claire Bloom, Ruthie Henshall, 
Lynn Farleigh, Samuel West, Richard Dreyfus, Shelia Reid, Dame Harriet Walter, Peter Polycarpou, Fiona Shaw,
Clare Holman, Nichola McAuliffe, Dame Janet Suzman, Al Pacino, Lisa Dillon, Anna Maxwell Martin, Mark Rylance,
Cicely Berry, Philip Voss, Rebecca Caine, Juliet Stevenson, Dianne Pilkington, Barry Morse and Kenneth Branagh.

LSW's projects have successfully raised individual horizons and improved everyone's sense of self-esteem.
Who ever said poetry makes nothing happen.  These people show everyone that it does.

Rt. Hon. Tessa Jowell, Former Minister, Culture, Media and Sport

LSW is especially proud in its 15th year to celebrate the
enormous contribution made to 'the dream that is LSW' by
all of its many supporters, (with special thanks to Mark Woodruff &
The Sainsbury Family Trusts and the late Jane Attenborough &
the Paul Hamlyn Foundation), and most especially wish to honour the extraordinary
contributions made by LSW's Musical Director, the sadly late Tim Williams, and 
LSW's noted and eternal advocate, the wonderful GAYLE HUNNICUTT

LSW is a Nationally Registered Charity (No. 1084717)
with the Charities Commission of England and Wales
and an International Trust / Non-Profit Arts Organisation
registered with the IRS in the United States of America.

   

“LSW works at the highest level …. What is most impressive is the commitment of the entire company 
and its rare passion for language”    Michael Billington, The Guardian


LSW Headquarter Contacts:

LSW, Post Office Box 31855, London SE17 3XP
Telephone: 0207 793 9755
Mobile:  07916149002
Email: lswprison@europe.com
LSW Webs: http://www.lswproductions.co.uk
http://www.londonshakespeare.org.uk