Royal Shakespeare Company Archives

30Mar

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Henry V – RSC, Stratford-Upon-Avon

A major power invading another country on a flimsy pretext. Does that sound familiar? The RSC’s new production of Shakespeare's Henry V has clear current political resonances. This production by the RSC's is superb, well directed, excellently acted and inventive. It uses Shakespeare's text and characters and is mercifully free of the gimmicks which some directors choose to put into the Bard's great works. It starts with a nod to continuity with the scene of the death of Henry IV from Henry IV Part Two. It then proceeds at ferocious pace, never flagging. It has been intelligently cut by the director, Tamara Harvey, to run for 2 hours 50 minutes including an interval and yet includes all the major events of the original text. The cast make a superb ensemble. Many playing several parts. Th...

17Dec

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Twelfth Night: RSC at the Barbican

Sometimes a director tries too hard to bring a novel or unusual interpretation to Shakespeare's work, producing a confused and ultimately unsatisfactory production. This unfortunately is the case with Prasanna Puwanarajah's version of Twelfth Night for the Royal Shakespeare Company, recently transferred to the Barbican from Stratford. There is much to like about this production. The acting was universally good and used Shakespeare's words for the most part, only annotated with the occasional modernism, and the delivery of the lines made the story very easy to understand. Music is intrinsic to this play and the musical score produced by Matt Maltese was excellent. The costumes were eclectic, reflecting a modern era with one or two extraordinary exceptions such as Feste's initial costume,...

Measure for Measure – Royal Shakespeare Company

24Sep

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

Measure for Measure – Royal Shakespeare Company

Much like its persecuted and prosecuted heroine, this production of Measure for Measure has a lot to prove. Director Emily Burns draws some tight parallels between the scenarios of Shakespeare’s Vienna and the present-day political scene but keeps the play well within the lines of conventional adaptation. That this script lends itself so well to the current moment is more depressing than exciting, and this production does not shy away from, but rather leans into, this discomfort. Distressingly relevant and enduringly painful, this problem play doesn’t offer much in the way of solutions. Photo: Helen Murray Standout performances from Emily Benjamin as Mariana, Douggie McMeekin as Lucio, and Oli Higginson as Claudio only heighten the sense of unease that pervades the play space. Benjam...

The Winter’s Tale – Royal Shakespeare Company

23Jul

By Kira DanielsNo Comments

London

The Winter’s Tale – Royal Shakespeare Company

Yes yes yes yes yes yes! This is the type of production that makes you doubt the play has ever been better performed in the 400 years since it was written. A text often relegated to reluctant decennial repetition by repertory Shakespeare theatres, this “problem play”—only partially redeemed and abashedly esteemed for its “strong female characters”—is here staged so boldly that it not only asks but demands audiences to answer: what actually is so problematic about female strength? Why are men made so uncomfortable by powerful women? And what on earth are women supposed to do with that dangerous discomfort? Directed by Yaël Farber and dripping with the seductive intrepidity that coats her directorial tongue, this production is unmissable and unmistakable. It is contemporary not in the sen...

Titus Andronicus – Swan Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon

30Apr

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

West Midlands

Titus Andronicus – Swan Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon

Director Max Webster arrives In Stratford to direct his first production for the Royal Shakespeare Company hot on the heels of recent critical and popular success with Macbeth at the Donmar and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ at the National Theatre. For his debut with the company he has given us a glorious interpretation of ‘Titus Andronicus’ which, whilst sparing none of the blood and gore associated with Shakespeare’s bloody revenge tragedy, also manages to encompass the filial love at the heart of the play. The Costume Design by Joanna Scotcher places this ‘Titus’ somewhere in the present; a gorgeous grey-black palette suffuses the stage with long luxuriant coats and smart suits replacing the martial uniform of Imperial Rome. Scotcher also designed the set, the action played out o...

RSC’s Multi-Award winning Matilda The Musical to begin Major New Tour of UK & Ireland in October 2025

8Oct

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

RSC’s Multi-Award winning Matilda The Musical to begin Major New Tour of UK & Ireland in October 2025

It was announced today (8th October 2024) that the Royal Shakespeare Company’s smash hit production of Matilda The Musical, based on Roald Dahl’s beloved book, will embark on its second major tour of the UK and Ireland in October 2025. The internationally renowned musical - which continues to play to packed houses in the West End at the Cambridge Theatre and has been seen by 12 million people across 100 cities around the world – will begin performances in Leicester on 6th October 2025. The show will celebrate its 15-year anniversary when it opens at Curve, Leicester in October 2025, before travelling to Bradford, Liverpool, Plymouth, Sunderland, Edinburgh and Manchester where it will run through March and April of 2026. Further tour dates will be announced next year. Priorit...

10Aug

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Pericles – Swan Theatre

We all have our off days and I think, amongst learned academics, we can safely agree Shakespeare was having one when he wrote “Pericles”. Not only is it a ramshackled, riotous romp of a plot with some unfathomable coincidences, it also seems Bill is not the only name on the poster. George Wilkins, who I’m sure I don't need to remind you, was a victualler, panderer (Google it), dramatist and pamphleteer, who dripped his quill in the ink pot, too. People better informed then I seem to think the Bard was responsible for the first half before handing over his parchment. Rarely is the play performed, so it’s a gamely director who’ll have a stab at it and the director on this occasion is new RSC co-AD, Tamara Harvey who, eighteen years after the previous production, clearly thought it was time t...

21Jun

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

North West

Julius Caesar – The Lowry

‘Friends, Romans, Countrymen; lend me your ears!’ Julius Caesar contains some of William Shakespeare’s most quoted lines, and in fact this play begins with Caesar celebrating the height of his power and influence and being faced with a stark warning to ‘Beware the Ides of March’. What follows is a dramatic exposition of the struggles of power, that is equally relevant today in 2023 as it was when it was published in 1599. This play calls on us to consider whether our actions can be justified on the basis of their goal, and whether it is a right or a duty to speak truth to those in authority. The design of the production (Rosanna Vize) is for the most part outstanding. The creeping introduction of colour into a monochrome space was really powerful, and really made me think; why is it ...

The Mirror and the Light is set for the West End this year

25May

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

The Mirror and the Light is set for the West End this year

Producers Playful Productions and the Royal Shakespeare Company have announced that the third and final novel in the Wolf Hall trilogy, The Mirror and the Light has been adapted for the West End stage. The world premiere will run at the Gielgud Theatre from Thursday 23rd September for a strictly limited season until Sunday 28th November, with an Opening Night on Wednesday 6th October. Tickets go on sale on Thursday 27th May, sign up for more information and priority booking from 24th May at www.themirrorandthelight.co.uk The play will be the concluding chapter of Dame Hilary Mantel's multi award-winning novels about the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, all commissioned and developed for the stage by Playful Productions. The Olivier and Tony Award-winning Wolf Hall and Bring Up t...

Matilda The Musical returns to Cambridge Theatre from 16th September

7May

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Matilda The Musical returns to Cambridge Theatre from 16th September

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s West End production of Matilda The Musical has announced that it will return to the Cambridge Theatre from 16th September 2021. Seen by more than 10 million people across more than 90 cities worldwide, this autumn marks 10 years since the multi-award-winning show opened in the West End. Matilda The Musical is now booking through to 13th February 2022. For further information visit www.matildathemusical.com Catherine Mallyon, RSC Executive Director said: “It is fantastic to see London’s West End re-opening and for our company, freelance colleagues, and creative team to be back at the Cambridge Theatre, preparing for performances in the autumn. We all know how challenging the past year has been, and that makes this moment even more special and import...