RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey is joined again by Vidar Hjardeng MBE, Inclusion and Diversity Consultant for ITV News across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands for the next in his regular Connect Radio theatre reviews.

This week we have a love letter to passion, birth, grief and the magic of nature with the audio described performance of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling novel Hamnet in Stratford-upon-Avon on Saturday April at pm with description by professional Audio Describers Carolyn Smith and Ess Grange.

Warwickshire, 1582. Agnes Hathaway, a natural healer, meets the Latin tutor, William Shakespeare. Drawn together by powerful but hidden impulses, they create a life together and make a family.

When the plague steals 11-year-old Hamnet from his loving parents, they must each confront their loss alone. And yet, out of the greatest suffering, something of extraordinary wonder is born.

This new play based on Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling novel, adapted by award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi, Red Velvet, Hymn) pulls back a curtain on the story of the greatest writer in the English language and the woman who was the constant presence and purpose of his life.

Directed by Acting RSC Artistic Director Erica Whyman, with set design by Tom Piper, Lighting by Prema Mehta, Music by Oğuz Kaplangi, Sound by Xana, Movement by Ayse Tashkiran, Fights by Kate Waters and Casting by Amy Ball CDG, Hamnet is a love letter to passion, birth, grief and the magic of nature.

Hamnet will transfer to the Garrick Theatre in London’s WestEnd and there will be an audio described performance on Saturday 25 November at 2.30pm.  For more about access at the RSC and details about their audio described performances do visit - https://www.rsc.org.uk/your-visit/access/assisted-performances

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