The Royal Shakespeare Company will focus its programming in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford-upon-Avon over the coming year, with the Swan Theatre and The Other Place remaining closed until 2022
NEWS: RSC starts redundancy consultations as closure is extended to 2021
Responding to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and the direct impact on the RSC, artistic director Gregory Doran and executive director Catherine Mallyon have confirmed that RSC theatres will not reopen for full productions before 2021.
NEWS: RSC confirms rescheduled programme for winter 2021
The Royal Shakespeare Company has confirmed full performance dates for its previously scheduled productions of The Magician’s Elephant and The Wars of The Roses Part 1 and 2 which will now take place in Winter 2021.
NEWS: RSC cancels or postpones all remaining 2020 performances, including Barbican season
Due to the continuing lockdown, alongside Government advice that social distancing will need to remain in place for some time, the Company has made the difficult decision to postpone all remaining planned performances.
NEWS: RSC’s winter season features musical version of The Magician’s Elephant & epic Wars of the Roses staging
The RSC’s winter season features a musical version of The Magician’s Elephant & an epic Wars of the Roses staging.
‘Endlessly fascinating’: MEASURE FOR MEASURE – Barbican Theatre
Gregory Doran’s RSC production of Measure for Measure is a subtle and absorbing account of a play that gets weirder with every viewing.
‘Adeptly traverses the conflicting genres of the original problem play’: MEASURE FOR MEASURE – Touring ★★★★
Intertwining ribald comedy with a morality tale is no easy feat, yet an outstanding cast and creative team reinforce this thought-provoking and immersive experience of Measure for Measure for all to enjoy.
NEWS: RSC concludes its partnership with BP
The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced its decision to conclude its partnership with BP at the end of this year. BP have supported the RSC’s £5 ticket scheme for 16 to 25 year olds since 2013. Talking about the decision, RSC artistic director Gregory Doran and executive director Catherine Mallyon said: “Over many months we have listened to a wide and varied range of voices …
NEWS: First casting announced for the RSC’s production of The Boy In The Dress
Rufus Hound, Irvine Iqbal, Natasha Lewis and Forbes Masson have been cast in The Boy in the Dress, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new musical which runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 8 November 2019 to 8 March 2020 (press night is 27 November).
‘It’s all done superbly’: MEASURE FOR MEASURE – Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon ★★★★★
What Gregory Doran frames most brilliantly in Measure For Measure at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon is the is the central confusion of morality.
NEWS: RSC returns to the Barbican with three new Shakespeare productions
Later this year, the three Shakespeare productions from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) summer 2019 Stratford season transfer to the Barbican from 26 October 2019.
NEWS: Mark Ravenhill, Robbie Williams & Guy Chambers will pen new musical version of David Walliams’ The Boy in the Dress in RSC winter season
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Winter 2019 season will include a new musical of David Walliams’ novel The Boy in the Dress with a book by Mark Ravenhill and music and lyrics by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers, directed by Gregory Doran.
‘Feels horribly current’: TROILUS & CRESSIDA – Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon ★★★★
Troilus & Cressida at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon feels horribly current. The terrible story sweeps you up: the vigour, the clamour, the extraordinary racket of macho metallic madness, shield and sword echoing Glennie’s extraordinary score.
‘It’s the sharp commentary on extreme religiosity which hits home’: TARTUFFE – Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon ★★★★
It was Gregory Doran, the RSC’s leader, who surprised Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto (veterans of The Kumars, Citizen Khan etc) with the suggestion they adapt Moliere’s 17c comedy of hypocrisy, and set it in a Pakistani Muslim family in Birmingham, directed by Iqbal Khan.
NEWS: RSC announces ‘cross-cast’ rep programme for summer season 2019
RSC artistic director Gregory Doran announced today his ambition for a new collaborative cross-cast ensemble which reflects the nation, to play three Shakespeare productions in a newly reconfigured Royal Shakespeare Theatre next summer.
‘Great writing, clever production, brilliantly acted’: IMPERIUM – West End
I thoroughly enjoyed the RSC’s Imperium. Great writing, clever production, brilliantly acted. Overall, a great day out in Ancient Rome.
‘A story told with theatrical panache & decent human poignancy’: MISS LITTLEWOOD – Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon ★★★★
It is a joy to have Greg Doran’s RSC hosting a musical about Joan Littlewood: itself a debut by the composer Sam Kenyon creating book, music and lyrics, and with a cast full of RSC first-timers including Clare Burt as Joan herself.
‘Constantly intense & gripping’: IMPERIUM – West End ★★★★★
Imperium is a powerful production of a story that is strikingly relatable to audiences watching it in 2018. A brilliant and lavish production – highly recommended.
NEWS: David Threlfall & Rufus Hound will reprise their roles in the West End transfer of RSC’s Don Quixote
David Threlfall and Rufus Hound will reprise their lead roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Don Quixote when the production transfers to London’s Garrick Theatre from 27 October 2018 to 2 February 2019.
Time for a round-up of lots of new theatre books
The shelf I reserve for newly arrived theatre books is beginning to groan so it’s obviously time for a round-up. There’s a lot of Shakespeare on the pile and I was especially pleased to see Paterson Joseph’s Julius Caesar and Me with its arguably provocative catchline: “Exploring Shakespeare’s African Play”.