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The actors Sam West and Dame Janet Suzman have put their names to the campaign to keep the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon. Their words now open the Stratford Herald’s Change.org petition, which had 2,728 verified signatures by about 2.15pm on Sunday 15 November, up from 1,567 at 7am.
The University of Birmingham plans to move the Institute out of Mason Croft on Church Street, its home since 1951, and onto its Edgbaston campus from September 2027. The Herald, which first reported the actors’ support, says the Institute itself has also backed the petition.
What the new petition text says
The rewritten petition argues that the Institute’s reputation comes from where it is: a few minutes’ walk from Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Holy Trinity Church, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s theatres and the Birthplace Trust’s archives. It describes Mason Croft as Grade II* listed and points to its specialist library of around 60,000 books, which it says donors paid for to support Shakespeare research in Stratford. Taking the Institute away from the town, it says, would “destroy the very thing that makes it unique”.
It asks the vice-chancellor, Adam Tickell, and the university’s governing council to do three things:
- stop the plans to leave Mason Croft and move the Institute out of Stratford;
- publish the reasons, the financial figures and the equality impact assessments behind the decision;
- hold open talks with staff, students, former students and the town’s cultural organisations about keeping the Institute at Mason Croft.
Two petitions, more than 3,000 names
A second petition, started on Friday by former student Paul Wassell, Urge the University of Birmingham to keep Mason Croft open, had 327 verified signatures at the same time. Between them the two have passed 3,000. Change.org petitions carry no formal weight, but they show the university the strength of feeling. Our petitions story follows both.
What happens next
The university hasn’t published a statement of its own: its news page had nothing on the Institute when we checked on Sunday afternoon. The Institute’s director, Professor Michael Dobson, has said he will resign rather than oversee the move. The Royal Shakespeare Company has told us it expects to comment early this week. We’ll add the RSC’s response, and any from the university, the Birthplace Trust, the councils and the MP, as they come in.
New to the story? Read what the Shakespeare Institute is, and why Mason Croft matters.
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Alex Harrington
Alex Harrington grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon and runs What's up, Stratford? as an independent guide to the town.
