Dame Helen Mirren has said it is “so unbelievably exciting” to see the Royal Shakespeare Company launch a curriculum aimed at changing the way Shakespeare is taught in UK secondary schools.

The Oscar-winning actress, 80, joined the global theatre company in the 1960s and has performed in stagings of Antony And Cleopatra, Macbeth, Hamlet and more.

The RSC’s Shakespeare curriculum, which is free for all state and Send schools, has transformed 10 of the bard’s most studied plays into a 24-part creative learning experience that draws on thousands of archive resources.

Niamh from Stratford Upon Avon School, Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen and Dylan from Stratford Upon Avon School (

Dame Helen, who appeared alongside Sir Ian McKellen at a launch event in London, said: “I was very lucky, b

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