Royal Shakespeare comes to small college town

Much ado about famous troupe

Royal Shakespeare Company actress Gemma Larke, center, joins Davidson College theater students in a movement exercise.

DAVIDSON, North Carolina (CNN) -- As one of the world's premier theater companies, it draws huge crowds each year to its innovative interpretations of Shakespeare in London and the Bard's hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon.

So how did Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company wind up in this small North Carolina college community?

The company has settled in for a two-week residency at Davidson College, a respected, 1,600-student liberal arts school about 20 miles north of Charlotte, where it's performing a new staging of "The Merchant of Venice."

The performances, which run through Saturday, are the only ones in the United States before the tour returns to the United Kingdom next month.

"People are both delighted and puzzled and quizzical about why and how the Royal Shakespeare Company has come to Davidson College," college President Bobby Vagt said.

For starters, Davidson put up about $1.2 million to help finance the company's production and bring the group to the campus, relying on individual and corporate donations and ticket proceeds, Vagt said.

Davidson was looking for a way to inaugurate its new 600-seat Duke Family Performance Hall. And with the help of an alumnus on the RSC's American advisory board, it sold the company on the idea of something more than what Vagt called the "garden variety 'come to Davidson and perform Shakespeare.' "

"At the end of the day, they were very excited about doing something new and different, which is this academic residency, and we, of course, were just thrilled by the notion that they would come and do a brand-new performance for us," Vagt said.

The residency includes workshops, visits to local public schools, seminars, lectures, after-play discussions, along with master classes with renowned director and company co-founder John Barton. The RSC has coordinated with several college departments, including theater, English, psychology, even chemistry.

"It's a really exciting tie-up for us that we can work in an academic institution, and we get all sorts of cross-fertilization that we wouldn't normally see," said Nick Chesterfield, the company manager.

There's also plenty of opportunity for informal interaction with students, faculty and the community.

"If they want to go and drink a beer afterward, they want to sit down and talk about an English assignment together, we've got all sorts of venues for that to happen," Vagt said.

If the Davidson community is star-struck, the Shakespeare troupe -- which rarely brings its act to the United States -- is enjoying the attention.

"If you're an English person in town, you're probably with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and so people recognize you, and they'll come up to you and talk to you and say, 'Hi, what are you doing?' and introduce themselves," Chesterfield said.

"So you really feel like you're part of the community instantly, which is absolutely overwhelming in a way."