The East London Shakespeare Festival (ELSF) merges the contemporary culture of East London with the inspirational storytelling of Shakespeare’s plays in outdoor parks and community spaces across East London.
The festival was founded by Ursula Early and Rosie Ward. Both work as professional actors, producers and directors; and live, work and bring up their families in Waltham Forest. They met while doing outdoor Shakespeare and now 'the wheel is come full circle' ... it is their shared enthusiasm for creating fun, accessible events in beautiful local spaces, which sparked the idea behind the birth of the East London Shakespeare Festival.
They met while doing outdoor Shakespeare and now 'the wheel is come full circle' ... it is their shared enthusiasm for creating fun, accessible events in beautiful local spaces, which sparked the idea behind the birth of the East London Shakespeare Festival.
ELSF launched in 2021 with a magical, riotous, sold-out production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, receiving an Off West End Award Nomination for Best Company, an 80's inspired Twelfth Night in 2022 and another Off West End Award Nomination for Best Company Ensemble for Romeo & Juliet in 2023.
This year the festival stages a production of As You Like It which runs throughout the summer. We caught up Ursula Early to learn more.
What can you tell me about the work of ELSF and what inspired you to co-find the company?
Rosie and I first met years ago doing outdoor Shakespeare, and it sparked a lasting love for it. You can’t beat the magical dusk moment in an evening show when the lights start twinkling, it’s an experience you can’t recreate in traditional theatre and it stays with you. In our own ways, we kept returning to the idea of how to share it with our local community. I’d even started reaching out to local contacts about launching something.
Then, fortuitously, we both ended up living in Waltham Forest. I’d just had my first baby and found myself at a lovely parent-and-baby class - run by Rosie! Not long after, she emailed me about wanting to start outdoor Shakespeare in the area, and it felt like serendipity. We both agreed that Waltham Forest would be the perfect place to do it: it has so many beautiful, underused (in a cultural way) green spaces and a community that we felt would truly embrace this kind of cultural offering.
Rosie and I first met years ago doing outdoor Shakespeare, and it sparked a lasting love for it. You can’t beat the magical dusk moment in an evening show when the lights start twinkling, it’s an experience you can’t recreate in traditional theatre and it stays with you. In our own ways, we kept returning to the idea of how to share it with our local community. I’d even started reaching out to local contacts about launching something.
Then, fortuitously, we both ended up living in Waltham Forest. I’d just had my first baby and found myself at a lovely parent-and-baby class - run by Rosie! Not long after, she emailed me about wanting to start outdoor Shakespeare in the area, and it felt like serendipity. We both agreed that Waltham Forest would be the perfect place to do it: it has so many beautiful, underused (in a cultural way) green spaces and a community that we felt would truly embrace this kind of cultural offering.
For me, making the arts accessible has always been a core valueand something I’ve grown up with - my parents are both creativeswho have both worked on many community projects, and my dad and aunt have run influential community arts organisations - Green Candle Dance Company and Theatre Peckham - focusing on underrepresented communities. Rosie also brings a wealth of experience as a community director and facilitator - running a theatre-in-education company and performing arts school. So, from the start, embedding our work within and for the community was a shared priority.
That’s why our community engagement programme is at the heart of everything we do at ELSF. From our Community Casts and Youth Theatre to our apprenticeship schemes, we see these elements as just as vital as our professional productions. It’s all about creating work with and for the community.
This year you stage a touring production of As You Like It, what can you tell me about this production?
‘As You Like It’ feels like the perfect play for the ‘brand’ and the creative style we’ve built - it’s fun, frivolous, and fabulous.We’ve created a joyful world with an underground Forest of Arden Cabaret.
The themes are timeless - identity, self-discovery, love, forgiveness- and the whole thing is gloriously bonkers. You’ve got a wrestling match, a tragic banishment, and then you get to meet a parade of wild characters in the Forest of Arden.
We’ve set our version in the modern day, starting in a slick, superficial cityscape before the characters escape to the forest. There, Duke Senior has built an underground cabaret- a kind of sanctuary for outsiders, creatives, and anyone who doesn’t quite fit the “norms” of city life. It’s the perfect setting to celebrate difference, freedom, love, and music – in ELSF’s inimitable style!
What challenges have you faced in preparing for the piece?
I don’t want to sound smug or curse it, but we’ve had a pretty smooth ride this year (I am totally cursing it now), the cast and creative team have been brilliant - so strong, committed, and full of energy that the process has been lovely.
That said, once we moved into our 1st venue (Higham Hill Hub) and did our dress rehearsal, we were reminded of the (sometimesharsh) realities of outdoor touring. The rain arrived right on cue, the tech had a few wobbles, and transitions suddenly felt a lot longer and trickier than they had in the rehearsal room. But in a way, it wasn’t a bad thing - it threw us straight into the deep end and helped the cast quickly get to grips with the potential challenges of outdoor theatre.
How do you approach making Shakespeare’s work accessible for all audiences?
In terms of the productions we’ve always aimed to create productions that are both culturally and creatively accessible - shows that excite, reflect, and resonate with our East London (and now wider London) audiences in as many ways as possible. We do modern interpretations withcontemporary music, high-energy dance numbers, lots of audience interaction (your picnic’s fair game!), and local references.
All our venues are accessible, and every performance is, at its heart, a relaxed one - audiences are welcome to move around and enjoy the show in whatever way feels right for them.
And this year, we’re really excited to be doing our first ever BSL-interpreted performance, with the brilliant Becky Barry - who’s worked with the RSC and many others – this is on Saturday 21 June, 3pm at Lloyd Park. We rehearsed with Becky last week and she’s absolutely mind-blowing. She brings a whole new dimension to the work, is fully integrated into the show, and we’re so looking forward to welcoming Deaf audiences to what we hope will be a really engaging performance.
We’re also committed to keeping things financially accessible. Our ticket prices are well below industry standard, and we offer ‘Pay What You Can’ performances, discounted family tickets, and heavily reduced rates for school matinees and pre-show workshops. The school shows and workshops have been especially powerful in opening up Shakespeare to a highly diverse range of young people.
You also take on the roles of Celia/Audrey/Adam in the production, how fun is it to get to multi-role?
I’ve loved the acting side of it - it’s a joy to play three wildly different characters. Also, without giving away spoilers, ‘my Audrey’ in our production comes with a whole herd of goats - definitely not something I ever expected to get to do.
The quick changes are another matter - now that we’ve previewed, I can safely say, it’s really fun but I wasn’t so sure to start with. I’ve never had so many quick changes in a show before, a young audience member counted 10 and it was nerve wracking. But, nowthat I’m in the swing of it, I’m really enjoying the craziness. It feels a bit like a circus act, I have seconds for some of them but when I (and the others with quick changes) nail it, the audience absolutely loves it.
Multi-rolling somehow feels perfect for Shakespeare - it isn’t about naturalism, it’s about embracing the wild energy of the play and not hiding it. The audience feel ‘in-on-the-secret’ if we give them clearly defined characters and nail the changes.
You are engaging audiences by offering them to bring picnics and take part in headband and garland making workshops, how important is that audience involvement to the work of ELSF?
ELSF is not just a show but a community event - which is why we call it a Festival. Most audiences are hyper-local, coming into their local park or community hub and feeling a real sense of ownership over the space. We encourage that connection and want them to be as actively involved as possible.
You are engaging audiences by offering them to bring picnics and take part in headband and garland making workshops, how important is that audience involvement to the work of ELSF?
ELSF is not just a show but a community event - which is why we call it a Festival. Most audiences are hyper-local, coming into their local park or community hub and feeling a real sense of ownership over the space. We encourage that connection and want them to be as actively involved as possible.
Whether that’s directly - as members of the community cast performing alongside the professional cast, or younger audience members participating in craft workshops and proudly wearing their creations during the show. Audiences mingling with actors in costume before the performance, or having their picnic cheekily nicked by an actor during the show and being invited to dance on stage at the end - the audience is an integral part of the experience, and it couldn’t happen without them.
If you could ask Shakespeare one question, what would you like to ask him?
A couple of things:
A couple of questions:
Since all the actors back then were men, how much of the gender mix-ups and confusion in his plays, particularly central to some of the plays we’ve done – ‘Twelfth Night’ and now of course ‘As You Like It’ and Rosalind/Ganymede - was Shakespeare having a bit of fun with the idea, how much was it just the logistics of theatre at thetime or was he actively engaging with ideas about gender and societal roles.
A couple of questions:
Since all the actors back then were men, how much of the gender mix-ups and confusion in his plays, particularly central to some of the plays we’ve done – ‘Twelfth Night’ and now of course ‘As You Like It’ and Rosalind/Ganymede - was Shakespeare having a bit of fun with the idea, how much was it just the logistics of theatre at thetime or was he actively engaging with ideas about gender and societal roles.
And then, I’d love to know what he’d make of how we bring his plays to life today – we definitely aren’t precious about the material and try to make it relevant especially to our local audiences. Would he be nodding along, thinking, “Yeah, love that!” or would he be a disapproving, I’d like to think not – we try to make theatre for everyone, that can be thoroughly enjoyed - which feels right but, I guess we’ll never know!
What was the first piece of theatre you saw that had a big impact on you?
The one that has stayed with me was Cheek By Jowl’s in association with Moscow Arts Theatre – ‘Boris Godunov’ – it was in Russian with subtitles, but the choreography and physical language was incredible – they were so enormous in their choices but each move was complete perfection – making the storytelling so clear that you barely needed the subtitles. Mind you, they rehearsed for about 8 months unlike our 2.5 weeks! I’d like to think that, although we can’t replicate their preciseness (due to their lovely log rehearsal process), the physicality, music and fun we bring to our shows makes the story-telling accessible in a somewhat similar way.
Funnily enough, I watched it on a drama school trip just before we did ‘As You Like It’ at my drama school (Guildhall School of Music and Drama) playing Audrey and Adam – full circle!
What keeps you inspired?
It’s seeing children as young as 4 or 5 transfixed by our shows, staying engaged from beginning to end. And it’s the feedback from all ages - parents, older and younger people - saying they’ve never enjoyed or understood Shakespeare so well. In fact, some have even come up to us afterwards to ask if we were really speaking Shakespeare, or if we’d modernised the language.
What was the first piece of theatre you saw that had a big impact on you?
The one that has stayed with me was Cheek By Jowl’s in association with Moscow Arts Theatre – ‘Boris Godunov’ – it was in Russian with subtitles, but the choreography and physical language was incredible – they were so enormous in their choices but each move was complete perfection – making the storytelling so clear that you barely needed the subtitles. Mind you, they rehearsed for about 8 months unlike our 2.5 weeks! I’d like to think that, although we can’t replicate their preciseness (due to their lovely log rehearsal process), the physicality, music and fun we bring to our shows makes the story-telling accessible in a somewhat similar way.
Funnily enough, I watched it on a drama school trip just before we did ‘As You Like It’ at my drama school (Guildhall School of Music and Drama) playing Audrey and Adam – full circle!
What keeps you inspired?
It’s seeing children as young as 4 or 5 transfixed by our shows, staying engaged from beginning to end. And it’s the feedback from all ages - parents, older and younger people - saying they’ve never enjoyed or understood Shakespeare so well. In fact, some have even come up to us afterwards to ask if we were really speaking Shakespeare, or if we’d modernised the language.
I’m also inspired by seeing members of our Community Cast going on to pursue careers in the industry, and by the amazing progress of our apprentices - securing agents, getting into drama school, and working professionally. We build genuine relationships with people and many participants come back year on year and tell their friends! Some participants have been supported and mentored within the company, for example, a member from our 2022 community cast was our 2023 Apprentice Actor.
And of course, there’s the joy of seeing all the hard work that Rosie and I have put in come to fruition in gorgeous London parks - 18 venues and counting - and seeing that audiences from all over London are loving the productions – we feel really proud.
What do you hope someone takes away from seeing As You Like It?
We just want them to have had a really fun, enjoyable experience, something they felt part of, alongside their friends, family, or neighbours and to leave with a smile on their face - hopefully wanting to come back next year!
As You Like It runs across outdoor and community spaces with performances taking by place until 28th August 2025. For dates and venues and more information visit https://www.elsf.uk/
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