Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company is a British theatre company, one of the most influential in the country. It is located primarily at Stratford-upon-Avon, with bases also in London, and Newcastle.

In Stratford, the RSC runs three theatres: the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, a large proscenium arch theatre; the Swan Theatre, an indoor version of an Elizabethan theatre; and The Other Place, a small black box theatre.

The company's history dates back to 1879 when the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford on Avon staged its first production, which was Much Ado About Nothing. The company attached to this theatre was called the Shakespeare Memorial Company, and became one of the most prestigious in Britain. In 1925 it received a royal charter.

In 1960 Peter Hall formed the modern Royal Shakespeare Company, renaming the Memorial Theatre to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in 1961. The repertoire widened to take in modern work and classics other than Shakespeare.

After a 2005-06 winter season with no Shakespeare (with productions/adaptations of The Canterbury Tales, Great Expectations, Women Beware Women and The Crucible), and as their main theatres in Stratford begin building work, in April 2006 the RSC are beginning the Complete Works Festival, a year long project to stage the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. (project link)

The company is the sole British member theater of the Union of the Theatres of Europe.

Key productions

The Wars of the Roses, adaptation of the Henry VI plays, directed by Sir Peter Hall (1963-64)
A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Peter Brook (1970)
Richard II, directed by John Barton, starring Ian Richardson and Richard Pasco, alternating the roles of Richard and Bolingbroke (1973-74)
Hamlet, starring Sir Ben Kingsley, directed by Buzz Goodbody (1976)
Macbeth, starring Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen (1977)
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1980)
Richard III, starring Sir Antony Sher (1984)
Les Misérables (1985)
Les Liaisons Dangereuses, starring Alan Rickman, Lindsay Duncan, and Juliet Stevenson (1985)
The Plantagenets, directed by Adrian Noble (1988)
The Gift of the Gorgon, starring Dame Judi Dench (1992)
Hamlet, starring Kenneth Branagh, directed by Adrian Noble (1992)
The Histories (2000), a season of all Shakespeare's sequential history plays
The Crucible, (2006)

Artistic directors

Notable actors

The following notable actors have appeared in RSC productions.

External links

The Switzer's Guide to Hamlet An Extra's eye view of the RSC's 2004 Hamlet production starring Toby Stephens in the title role

1879 establishments | William Shakespeare | Theatre in London | Theatre in the United Kingdom | Theatre companies

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Key productions

Artistic directors

Notable actors

External links