Selfridges to house in-store theatre to celebrate 400 years of Shakespeare

Selfridges plans to launch a commercial theatre within its flagship London store to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

The theatre – dubbed a world-first for a department store by the iconic high street retailer – is part of its Shakespeare Refashioned event, which fuses fashion and drama in tribute to the playwright.

Tickets for a new production of Much Ado About Nothing, set to be staged in the 100-seat in-store theatre, are now on sale.

“This play offers a world in which fashion, appearance and social standing are of paramount importance and rumour, gossip and insinuation can be lethal,” director Mark Leipacher said.

“Everyone at The Faction is delighted to be collaborating with Selfridges to create this new production for the Shakespeare Refashioned project. It’s an ambitious, innovative and wild idea – exactly the way we should be celebrating Shakespeare 400.”

Designer’s interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays will also dominate the display windows of Selfridge’s Oxford Street store for the next few weeks.

Rapper Rejjie Snow will create a piece of graffiti in store on 20 July.

As part of Selfridges’ Shakespeare events, it has also created two big window displays that evoke the playwright’s central themes and characters and with one window dedicated to comedy and the other to tragedy. The displays have been designed by a collective of twenty international designers including Rick Owens, Dries Van Noten and Simone Rocha.