As a non musician, with a life long conviction that I am tone deaf, I approached this session with some trepidation. I need not have worried, Bruce’s account of the contribution of musicians to RSC productions was both accessible and fascinating.
Bruce explained that music plays a vital role in each production enabling the director to set the location, period and mood of the play. He reminded us that there are over 100 songs in the Shakespeare canon and a similar number of musicians employed to provide the music in a wide variety of styles. Consequently, actors come to the RSC knowing that they may be called upon to sing. Bruce was asked how reluctant singers were induced to sing. He replied that reluctant singers received an equal measure of counselling and bullying to help them cope!
Bruce spoke of the wonderful musical archive held by the Shakespeare Bithplace Trust. Dating back to 1897 it contains over 450 musical scores by 110 composers. Bruce explained that it is a constant source of inspiration as The company seeks to constantly reinterpret the plays and make them accessible to new audiences.
Bruce then talked about the role of new technology in supporting the revision of musical scores and how he has been able to create resources for schools that enable children to make scores for themselves.
Finally, Bruce put us in the position of reluctant actors learning to sing and after a hesitant start we rose to the challenge and sang enthusiastically and surprisingly well buoyed up by this thoroughly entertaining and informative session.
RSC Friends 
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