Richmond Shakespeare’s Bardathon offers an opportunity for students from many different schools to collaborate on the production of a single Shakespeare play. The program is produced with ongoing annual support from the Richmond Chapter of the English Speaking Union. Beginning in the fall, each participating school group is assigned a single scene in the selected Shakespeare play. Over the following months, students prepare this scene under the guidance of a faculty sponsor, and with the support of Quill Theatre education staff. The following spring (typically mid-March), pieces of the play prepared by each school group come together over the course of a full day of performance. The show is streamed live online to allow schools, parents, community groups, and other audiences to enjoy the performance. While most participating schools are from the Greater Richmond community, a Russian school from St. Petersburg has participated every year since the beginning of the program, nine years ago!

Since 1957, the ESU has provided summer study abroad scholarships to middle and high school teachers at Oxford, Edinburgh and Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Each year the Richmond Branch sponsors one or two teacher/scholars! Our teacher/scholars bring back many creative ideas and energy to their classrooms, and also the occasional husband-to-be!

The ESU Richmond Branch hosts many prominent authors and scholars including ESU’s own Evelyn Wrench Lecture Series named after our founder. These renowned British and American speakers present programs on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to, current events, history, language, literature, art, architecture, and travel.

Since 1957, the ESU has provided summer study abroad scholarships to middle and high school teachers at Oxford, Edinburgh and Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Each year the Richmond Branch sponsors one or two teacher/scholars!

We host a variety of events including a recent visit from the Mayor of Richmond-upon-Thames and his wife. They came to cement the long relationship between our two cities, and were honored with a tour of the Capitol by the Clerk of the House of Delegates. Contact Jennifer Fidura at fidura@erols.com for a list of upcoming programs.