Royal Shakespeare Company Archives

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...

17Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Dream – Royal Shakespeare Company

What do you do if you're rehearsing a live performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream when suddenly a deadly global pandemic derails your plans? This is the highly unusual and unwelcome scenario that the Royal Shakespeare Company was faced with last year, as well as the wider question of what a virus that thrives on human interaction means for the future of live performance. It's this consideration that led to last night's production, which was unique, engaging and really rather beautiful. Dream is inspired by, rather than an adaptation of, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and is an immersive online experience that uses the technology we see in online gaming to create a virtual world that can be inhabited by both actors and audience. After waiting in the interactive lobby which acts as a kind o...

Dream – live, online performance leads the way in future audience experience

9Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Dream – live, online performance leads the way in future audience experience

Theatre, music and ground-breaking technology combine in Dream, an exhilarating glimpse into the future of live performance inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Created by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in collaboration with Manchester International Festival (MIF) Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) and Philharmonia Orchestra, Dream is the culmination of a major research project called Audience of the Future which helped develop Skepta’s mixed-reality rave for MIF19, DYSTOPIA987. Gabrielle Jenks, Digital Director at Manchester International Festival said: “Audience of the Future has been an invaluable space for world-leading organisations to consider the future of virtual production and understand the opportunities and challenges of working with real-time technologi...

16Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

Hamlet – Royal Shakespeare Company

In this 2016 production Simon Godwin’s version completely re-imagines Hamlet from a visual perspective. The text largely remains the same, albeit tweaked in places and the small changes have accelerated the pace of the play - it rarely rests on its laurels. The African theme brings a freshness to one of the most regularly performed of Shakespeare’s plays. Dressed as military guards Barnardo (Kevin N Golding) and Marcellus (Theo O’Gundipe) have asked Horatio (Hiran Abeysekera) to come along to see the ghost that has a likeness to the dead King to prove that they are not crazy. The scene is dark, and it creates a feeling of menace but undershoots slightly as there is no ghostly apparition and we must wait until the next scene before we see the ghost of the King.&nb...

Much Ado About Nothing – Royal Shakespeare Company

5Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

West Midlands

Much Ado About Nothing – Royal Shakespeare Company

Showing as part of the BBC’S Culture in Quarantine series, this Royal Shakespeare Company 2014 production, often wondered to be the missing Love’s Labour’s Won, was originally the latter half of a comic double bill – the first half being Love’s Labour’s Lost – devised by director Christopher Luscombe and designer Simon Higlett, and was live screened to cinema in 2015. In a clever re-staging, the action is set in December 2018 at the country house of Leonato (David Horovitch), and which has been converted to serve as a hospital, with daughter Hero (Flora Spencer-Longhurst) and cousin Beatrice (Michelle Terry) replete in nurses uniforms. Prince Don Pedro (John Hodgkinson) leads the returning soldiers which include his illegitimate brother Don John (Sam Alexander), Claudio (Tunji Kasim)...