Renowned percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie hosted members of Shakespeare at The George during a tour of The Evelyn Glennie Collection last week. 

Dame Evelyn Glennie is the world’s premier solo percussionist, double Grammy award winner and BAFTA nominee whose life-long mission is to ‘Teach the World to Listen’.

Dame Evelyn welcomed members of the cast and crew of the award-winning theatre company when they visited The Evelyn Glennie Collection at its base near Huntingdon.

Reuben Milne, Chair of Shakespeare at The George said: “The Evelyn Glennie Foundation enables many more people to enjoy live theatre with its support of our captioned performances.

"Outdoor theatre can present particular challenges for those who have lost or are losing their hearing, but offering a performance where the dialogue is displayed above the stage makes our plays more accessible.

“Visiting The Evelyn Glennie Collection, which includes over 3,800 percussion instruments, was a fascinating insight into the world of percussion and hearing Dame Evelyn play just a handful of them demonstrated how we can learn to listen more effectively.”

Dame Evelyn aims to improve communication and social cohesion by encouraging everyone to discover new ways of listening in order to inspire, to create, to engage and to empower.

This year, she is sponsoring a captioned performance of Hamlet in a bid to make live theatre more accessible to those who have lost, or are losing, their hearing.

The company is making its final preparations for the production, which opens at The George Hotel in Huntingdon on June 25.

Welcoming the theatre group Dame Evelyn said: “Effective communication is so powerful but sometimes we get so caught up in day to day living that we just forget to listen, in whatever form that might take.

“I listen through the vibrations of my percussion instruments and in the same way that a musician will leave their instrument to reverberate to get the full depth of sound so actors leave time for dramatic effect and to give the audience chance to inwardly absorb the dialogue.

"I discovered so many similarities between music and theatre from the Shakespeare at The George team and hope that some of the listening techniques we talked about will help bring a real energy to their 2024 production of Hamlet."

Shakespeare at The George perform Hamlet at The George Hotel, Huntingdon from June 25 – July 6.

The captioned performance sponsored by The Evelyn Glennie Foundation will take place on Tuesday July 2.

Tickets are available to purchase here.