Education and Outreach Initiatives Launched Alongside Run of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

With the production currently playing to critical acclaim and capacity houses, To Kill a Mockingbird is continuing to implement a series of education and outreach initiatives to run alongside the production.

Increasing a commitment to schools, and to ensure the production continues to reach as wide an audience as possible, school groups will now have exclusive advance access to all performances until 21 July 2023 when the next academic year ends, ahead of seats going on sale to the general public. The £15 ticket price break will be extended to all school groups of 10+ at Wednesday midweek matinees for performances from 21 September, with a free teacher ticket for every 10 students.

To supplement the offering to schools, the production has created an education resource to support secondary school students and their teachers coming to see the show. The contents of which include; classroom and studio activities based on the play, insight into the adaptation, guidance for teaching PSHE issues, such as diversity and inclusion, and live production support for GCSE and A Level Drama. The pack will be available to download free from https://www.tokillamockingbird.co.uk/ from 4 July.

In addition, the Producers have set aside a number of £5 tickets for every performance that are offered directly to those currently under-represented in West End theatre audiences. To date 75% of those tickets have been used by young people, for many of whom To Kill a Mockingbird is their first time at the theatre.

Producer Sonia Friedman said today, "It is absolutely the intention that our production of To Kill a Mockingbird remains accessible to everyone, despite sold out houses, hence opening up a specific long-term booking period for schools ahead of general on-sale, in addition to our continued £15 All Rise ticket scheme. Harper Lee's enduring story, adapted so masterfully for the stage by Aaron Sorkin, opens up vital conversations, and we are committed to enable all audiences to engage with the play."

Whilst the playwright Aaron Sorkin was here in the UK for the opening of the production, he visited Capital City Academy in Willesden, North West London, for a Q&A with the students following their free trip to see the production at the dress rehearsal. A video of this event can be found here: https://www.tokillamockingbird.co.uk/videos/

Furthermore, To Kill a Mockingbird continues its successful All Rise ticket scheme, offering £15 seats for every performance across the run. The initiative provides access at affordable prices to as wide an audience as possible. More than 1,400 tickets are being released each month of the run. In addition to the All Rise initiative, there is an opportunity to purchase £15 tickets via Today Tix daily rush - where a limited number of additional seats are available on each performance day via the app. The TodayTix app can be downloaded onto iOs or Android devices for free via the app store; or you can access online via TodayTix.com.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Bartlett Sher directs a cast of over thirty - Rafe Spall (Atticus Finch), Harry Attwell (Mr Cunningham/Boo Radley), Amanda Boxer (Mrs Henry Dubose), Poppy Lee Friar (Mayella Ewell), John Hastings (Bailiff), Simon Hepworth (Mr Roscoe/Dr Reynolds), Laura Howard (Miss Stephanie/Dill's Mother), Lloyd Hutchinson (Link Deas), Gwyneth Keyworth (Scout Finch), Tom Mannion (Sheriff Heck Tate), David Moorst (Dill Harris), Pamela Nomvete (Calpurnia), Jim Norton (Judge Taylor), Patrick O'Kane (Bob Ewell), Jude Owusu (Tom Robinson), Harry Redding (Jem Finch), David Sturzaker (Horace Gilmer) and Natasha Williams (Mrs Dubose's Maid), with Helen Belbin, Laurence Belcher, Paul Birchard, Ryan Ellsworth, Rebecca Hayes, Danny Hetherington, Matthew Jure, Anna Munden, Tiwai Muza, Oyin Orija and Itoya Osagiede making up the ensemble and understudies, with Candida Caldicot on organ and Ciyo Brown and Jack Benjamin on guitar.

Set in Maycomb, Alabama in 1934, To Kill a Mockingbird has provided American literature with some of its most indelible characters: lawyer Atticus Finch, the tragically wronged Tom Robinson, Atticus' daughter Scout, her brother Jem, their housekeeper and caretaker Calpurnia and the reclusive Arthur "Boo" Radley. For the past six decades and for every generation, this story, its characters and portrait of small-town America have helped to, and continue to, inspire conversation and change.

Harper Lee's enduring story of racial injustice and childhood innocence has sold more than 45 million copies of the novel worldwide. 2020 marked the 60^th anniversary of its publication.

Sher and the original Broadway creative team - Miriam Buether (Set), Ann Roth (Costume), Jennifer Tipton (Lighting), Scott Lehrer (Sound), Adam Guettel (Original Score), Kimberly Grigsby (Music Supervision) and Campbell Young Associates (Hair & Wigs) - are joined by Serena Hill as Casting Director, Hazel Holder as Voice & Dialect Coach, Titas Halder as Associate Director, Candida Caldicot as Musical Director, Tavia Rivée Jefferson as Cultural Coordinator and Rasheka Christie-Carter as Assistant Director.