The Wood of Words: In Every Leaf

Friendship makes us fresh.
And doth beget new courage in our breasts.

A new play for young people and schools, created from Shakespeare’s works.

In this wood of words, a band of newcomers arrive to witness banishments, storms, unhappy endings, reunions, and murder most foul... and try to make sense of it all. This unique and thoughtful adaptation for young performers of several of Shakespeare’s works is co-written by director Chris White and award-winning playwright Hannah Khalil, in honour of the 400th anniversary of the First Folio this year.

The Wood of Words was created as part of the Associate Schools Programme (the RSC’s long term partnership programme with schools and theatre partners). This edition was published to coincide with the Playmaking Festival at the RSC, in July 2023.

Chris White is a freelance director and dramaturg specialising in international collaborations, Shakespeare, new writing and projects with young people. As a dramaturg he has led several playwrighting projects for Synergy Theatre Project and worked closely with a number of writers including Hassan Abdulrazzak, Satinder Chohan, Hannah Khalil and Sonya Hale. He has worked for a range of organisations as a script reader including BBC, and co-leads Writer’s Lab for Soho Theatre, developing new plays with some of the best emerging artists in the UK. Chris is an Associate Practitioner for the RSC, directing a number of large scale projects involving young people across the UK in venues ranging from classrooms to large stages to the Houses of Parliament.

Hannah Khalil is currently Resident Writer at Shakespeare’s Globe. Henry VIII is part of their 2022 summer season and her critically acclaimed re-telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Fir Tree which premiered in 2021, will return for their 2022 winter season. Hannah’s other theatre commissions include new work for the RSC, Soho Theatre, The Kiln and Mosaic/Fishamble. Previous work for stage includes A Museum in Baghdad, which opened at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theatre in 2019 directed by Erica Whyman, Interference for The National Theatre of Scotland, The Scar Test for Soho Theatre and Scenes from 68* Years for the Arcola. Hannah was named Heimbold Chair of Irish Studies at Villanova University in 2021 and was a Creative Fellow of the Samuel Beckett Archive for 2021/2022.