ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

The 'Royal Shakespeare Company' (RSC) is a British theatre company. It is located primarily at Stratford-upon-Avon, with bases also in London, and Newcastle and is one of the two most prominent publicly-subsidised funded theatre companies in the United Kingdom, alongside London's Royal National Theatre.

Contents

Company history

The early years

The RSC

Theatres

Key productions

Artistic directors

Notable actors past and present

References

Sources

External links

Company history

The early years

The RSC's history dates back to Wednesday, 23 April1879 when the newly completed Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford on Avon staged its first production, ''Much Ado About Nothing'', whose title gave ammunition to several critics.
The Memorial, a red brick Gothic cathedral, designed by Dodgshun and Unsworth of Westminster, was unkindly described by Bernard Shaw as “an admirable building, adaptable to every purpose except that of a theatre.” But under the direction of William Bridges-Adams and after a slow start its resident New Shakespeare Company became one of the most prestigious in Britain.
The theatre received a Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1925, which gave it a certain status. But this was short-lived because on the afternoon of 6 March 1926, when a new season was about to commence rehearsals, smoke was seen, then fire broke out and the mass of half-timbering chosen to ornament the interior provided good dry tinder. By the following morning the theatre was a blackened shell. The company transferred its Shakespeare festivals to a converted local cinemea, but fund-raising began for the rebuilding of the theatre, with generous donations arriving from philanthropists in America.
In January 1928, following an open competition, the 29 year old Elisabeth Scott was appointed architect for the new theatre. So the theatre became ''the first important work erected in this country from the designs of a woman architect'' ^[1]. Her modernist plans for an art deco structure came under fire from many directions, but the new building was opened triumphantly on Shakespeare’s birthday, 23 April 1932. Later it was to come under the direction of Barry Jackson, Anthony Quayle and Glen Byam Shaw, with an impressive roll call of actors. Indeed Scott’s building, with some minor adjustments to the stage, remained in constant use until 2007 when it was finally closed for a major refit of the interior.

The RSC

In 1959, while still the Director-designate of the Memorial Theatre, Peter Hall announced that the formation of a permanent company would be a primary objective. As David Addenbrooke records in his study of ''The Hall Years'', Hall believed that Shakespeare, more than any other dramatist, needed a 'style', a tradition and unity of direction and acting. On 14 January 1960, Hall's first policy statement as Director also proposed the acquisition of a second theatre, in London, to be used as a city outlet for selected Stratford productions. The RSC was formally established on 20 March 1961 with the Royal announcement that the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre would henceforth be known as the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the company as the Royal Shakespeare Company.
John Barton had been appointed Associate Director in January 1960, and was followed in 1962 by Michel Saint-Denis, Peter Brook and Clifford Williams who joined the company as resident directors. John Bury was appointed Head of Design in 1964. The repertoire was also widened to take in modern work and classics other than Shakespeare.
In 1962 strong opposition to the establishment of a London base for the RSC came from the National Theatre which — led by Viscount Chandos and Laurence Olivier — wished to be the sole subsidized company operating in London. But following a deal with Prince Littler, managing director of Associated Theatre Properties, the RSC successfully established the Aldwych Theatre as its London base for productions transferred from Stratford to London, its stage redesigned to match the RST's apron stage. Twenty years later, in the summer of 1982, the company took up London residence in both the Barbican Theatre and The Pit studio space, part of the Barbican Arts Centre under the auspices of the City of London. But while the RSC had been closely involved in the design of these two venues, in 2002 it left the Barbican after a series of allegedly poor seasons, also because the then artistic director, Adrian Noble, wanted to develop the company's touring performances. His decision has left the company without a regular London home.
The RSC first tackled its need for a small auditorium in 1971. At Trevor Nunn's insistence, the company hired The Place off the Euston Road in London and constructed its own theatre space for an audience of 330, seated on raked wooden benches. Two seasons of plays were staged in 1972 and 1973, none suitable for the Aldwych. But in December 1973 Buzz Goodbody, a promising young director, drew up a plan for what would become The Other Place studio theatre in Stratford, designed by Michael Reardon to seat 140 people, which opened to a first and highly successful season in 1974. The name chosen for the new studio space was favoured within the company because it implied an alternative theatre, but also because it was a quotation from ''Hamlet''.
Trevor Nunn and Terry Hands were joint artistic directors of the RSC when the company opened The Swan, its third theatre in Stratford. The Swan Theatre, designed by Michael Reardon, has a deep thrust-stage and a galleried, intimate 430-seat auditorium. The space was to be dedicated to playing the works of Shakespeare's contemporaries, the works of European writers and the occasional work of Shakespeare. The theatre was launched on 8 May 1986 with a production of ''The Two Noble Kinsmen'' by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher (not published until 1634 and thought to be Shakespeare's last work for the stage). It was directed by Barry Kyle [1].
After a 2005-06 winter season with no Shakespeare (but with productions/adaptations of ''The Canterbury Tales'', ''Great Expectations'', ''Women Beware Women'' and ''The Crucible''), and as their main theatres in Stratford began re-building work, in April 2006 the RSC began the Complete Works Festival, a year-long project to stage the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. (project link)
The RSC is the sole British member theatre of the Union of the Theatres of Europe. The RSC also acquired the rights to the Shakespeare schools festival, which tries to get young actors into Shakespeare as early as possible.

Theatres

In Stratford, the RSC runs four theatres:

★ The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, a large proscenium arch theatre (closed for redevelopment - architects Bennetts Associates [2]).

★ The Swan Theatre, an indoor version of an Elizabethan theatre (temporarily closed)

★ The Other Place, a small black box theatre (temporarily closed).

★ The Courtyard Theatre, a 1,000-seat theatre with a thrust stage,
The company's London presence has included tenancies of the Aldwych Theatre, The Place in Duke's Road, Euston, the Barbican Theatre and The Pit in the City of London, The Mermaid Theatre. the Roundhouse in Camden, the Novello Theatre and the Gielgud Theatre.
In Stratford the RSC currently performs in the Courtyard Theatre, opened in July 2006, designed by Ian Ritchie Architects and designers Charcoal Blue. [3]. As a working prototype for the new auditorium of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre it has a thrust stage and stacked tiered seating on three sides for 1,000 people.
During the winter months, Stratford-upon-Avon’s Civic Hall on Rother Street will provide the RSC with a temporary second theatre [4].
The Courtyard will be the Company’s main performance space whilst the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is closed for transformation. But when the development is complete in 2010 the Courtyard will be dismantled and The Other Place will then re-open as the RSC's studio theatre.
As part of this project the 432-seat Swan Theatre is also closed temporarily from mid-August 2007, and will eventually share the foyer space with the re-vamped RST.
For more information visit the RSC website [5].

Key productions

★ ''King Lear'' directed by Peter Brook with Paul Scofield as Lear (1962)

★ ''The Wars of the Roses'', adaptation of the ''Henry VI'' and ''Richard III'' plays, directed by Sir Peter Hall 1963-64 with Ian Holm, Peggy Ashcroft and David Warner

★ ''Marat/Sade'' by Peter Weiss directed by Peter Brook (1964)

★ ''The Homecoming'' by Harold Pinter directed by Peter Hall (1965)

★ ''Staircase'' with Paul Scofield and Patrick Magee (1966)

★ ''Hamlet'' directed by Peter Hall with David Warner in the title-role (1966)

★ ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', directed by Peter Brook (1970)

★ ''Old Times'' by Harold Pinter directed by Peter Hall (1971)

★ ''Julius Caesar'' directed by Trevor Nunn (1973)

★ Antony and Cleopatra directed by Trevor Nunn starring Janet Suzman (1973)

★ ''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'', directed by Trevor Nunn starring Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen (1977)

★ ''The Greeks'' directed and adapted from Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles by John Barton (1980)

★ ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'' adapted for the stage by David Edgar directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird (1980)

★ ''Much Ado About Nothing'' directed by Terry Hands starring Derek Jacobi and Sinead Cusack

★ ''Richard III'', directed by Bill Alexander starring Sir Antony Sher (1984)

★ ''Les Misérables'' by Claude-Michel Schoenberg and Alain Boublil directed by Trevor Nunn (1985)

★ ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' by Christopher Hampton starring Alan Rickman, Lindsay Duncan, and Juliet Stevenson directed by Howard Davies (1985)

★ ''Titus Andronicus'' directed by Deborah Warner starring Brian Cox (1988)

★ ''The Plantagenets'' adaptation of the ''Henry VI'' and ''Richard III'' plays, directed by Adrian Noble, starring Anton Lesser as ''Richard III'', Ralph Fiennes as ''Henry VI'' and David Waller as ''Duke of Gloucester'' (1988)

★ ''Othello'' directed by Trevor Nunn with Willard White as Othello and Ian McKellen as Iago (1989)

★ ''Hamlet'' directed by Adrian Noble starring Kenneth Branagh (1992)

★ ''Coriolanus'' directed by David Thacker starring Toby Stephens (1994)

★ '' (2000), a season of all Shakespeare's sequential history plays

★ ''Hamlet'' directed by Michael Boyd starring Toby Stephens (2004)

★ ''The Crucible'' by Arthur Miller directed by Dominic Cooke (2006)

★ ''Pericles'' directed by Dominic Cooke (2006)

★ A repertory of ''King Lear'' and ''The Seagull'' starring Ian McKellen, with Sylvester McCoy and William Gaunt and directed by Trevor Nunn (2007)

Artistic directors

★ Peter Hall (1960-1968)

★ Trevor Nunn (1968-1978)

★ Trevor Nunn and Terry Hands (1978-1986)

★ Terry Hands (1986-1991)

★ Adrian Noble (1991-2003)

★ Michael Boyd (2003- )

Notable actors past and present

The following notable actors have appeared in RSC productions and at Stratford.

★ F. Murray Abraham

★ Joss Ackland

★ Roger Allam

★ Miles Anderson

★ Francesca Annis

★ Richard Armitage

★ Alun Armstrong

★ Peggy Ashcroft

★ Eileen Atkins

★ Alan Bates

★ Simon Russell Beale

★ Sean Bean

★ Paul Bettany

★ Colin Blakely

★ Brian Blessed

★ Samantha Bond

★ Kenneth Branagh

★ Brenda Bruce

★ Richard Burton

★ Dominic Caddle

★ Simon Callow

★ Cheryl Campbell

★ Ian Charleson

★ Shelley Conn

★ Nicky Cook

★ Brian Cox

★ Jack Cox

★ Cyril Cusack

★ Niamh Cusack

★ Sinead Cusack

★ Henry Ian Cusick

★ Tim Curry

★ Timothy Dalton

★ Charles Dance

★ Daniel Day-Lewis

★ Judi Dench

★ Roy Dotrice

★ Robbie Dowling-Doyle

★ Lindsay Duncan

★ Mia Farrow

★ Peter Egan

★ Jennifer Ehle

★ Ralph Fiennes

★ Joseph Fiennes

★ Susan Fleetwood

★ Oliver Ford Davies

★ Philip Franks

★ Michael Gambon

★ William Gaunt

★ John Gielgud

★ Iain Glen

★ Julian Glover

★ Derek Godfrey

★ Patrick Godfrey

★ Michael Goodliffe

★ Henry Goodman

★ Nickolas Grace

★ Matthew Gregson

★ Richard Griffiths

★ Mike Gwilym

★ Nigel Hawthorne

★ Ciarán Hinds

★ Dustin Hoffman

★ Ian Holm

★ Michael Hordern

★ Will Houston

★ Alan Howard

★ Gareth Hunt

★ Geoffrey Hutchings

★ Barrie Ingham

★ Jeremy Irons

★ Chuck Iwuji

★ Glenda Jackson

★ Derek Jacobi

★ Emrys James

★ Nasir Jamil

★ Tony Jay

★ Michael Jayston

★ Barbara Jefford

★ Alex Jennings

★ Richard Johnson

★ Griffith Jones

★ Alexis Kanner

★ Charles Kay

★ Geoffrey Keen

★ Ben Kingsley

★ Alex Kingston

★ Michael Kitchen

★ Jane Lapotaire

★ Jude Law

★ Vivien Leigh

★ Barbara Leigh-Hunt

★ Anton Lesser

★ Cherie Lunghi

★ Patti LuPone

★ Alec McCowen

★ Sylvester McCoy

★ Ian McDiarmid

★ Ian McKellen

★ Leo McKern

★ Art Malik

★ Brewster Mason

★ Daniel Massey

★ Joe Melia

★ Helen Mirren

★ Conor Murphy

★ John Nettles

★ Liam Nicholson

★ Lord Laurence Olivier

★ Peter O'Toole

★ David Oyelowo

★ Richard Pasco

★ Trevor Peacock

★ Bob Peck

★ Michael Pennington

★ Edward Petherbridge

★ Sian Phillips

★ Ronald Pickup

★ Eric Porter

★ Mike Pratt

★ Jonathan Pryce

★ Hugh Quarshie

★ Anthony Quayle

★ Diana Quick

★ Michael Redgrave

★ Vanessa Redgrave

★ Siobhan Redmond

★ Roger Rees

★ Ian Richardson

★ Joely Richardson

★ Ralph Richardson

★ Alan Rickman

★ Diana Rigg

★ David Rintoul

★ Linus Roache

★ Norman Rodway

★ Paul Rogers

★ Clifford Rose

★ Mark Rylance

★ Paul Scofield

★ Fiona Shaw

★ Sebastian Shaw

★ Antony Sher

★ John Shrapnel

★ Donald Sinden

★ Jonathan Slinger

★ Barrie Smith

★ Timothy Spall

★ Elizabeth Spriggs

★ Robert Stephens

★ Toby Stephens

★ Juliet Stevenson

★ Patrick Stewart

★ Imogen Stubbs

★ David Suchet

★ Janet Suzman

★ Tilda Swinton

★ Conor Taylor

★ David Tennant

★ Ellen Terry

★ John Thaw

★ Gareth Thomas

★ David Threlfall

★ Frances de la Tour

★ Herbert Beerbohm Tree

★ Timothy Tricker

★ Dorothy Tutin

★ Margaret Tyzack

★ Lee van Geleen

★ David Waller

★ Harriet Walter

★ BJ Ware

★ Derek Waring

★ David Warner

★ Zoë Wanamaker

★ Dennis Waterman

★ Ruby Wax

★ Luke West

★ Samuel West

★ Michael Williams

★ Nicol Williamson

★ Penelope Wilton

★ John Wood

★ John Woodvine

★ Irene Worth

★ Billy Wright

★ Ryan Wright

★ Mary Ure

★ Susannah York

References

1. Pringle,p.29

Sources

★ Sally Beauman: ''The Royal Shakespeare Company: A History of Ten Decades'', Oxford University Press (1983) ISBN 0192122096

★ Marian Pringle: ''The Theatres of Stratford-upon-Avon 1875 – 1992: An Architectural History'', Stratford upon Avon Society (1994) ISBN 0-9514178-1-9

★ David Addenbrooke: ''The Royal Shakespeare Company: The Peter Hall Years'', William Kimber (1974) ISBN 071830103X

★ Peter Hall: ''Making an Exhibition of Myself: The Autobiography of Peter Hall'', Sinclair-Stevenson (1993) ISBN 1856191656

★ Theatre Record and its annual Indexes

★ RSC programme notes (including ''Richard II'' at the Courtyard, August 2007)

External links

★ Royal Shakespeare Company official homepage

★ RSC Exploring Shakespeare

★ RSC Performance Database

★ 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

★ A Dictionary of the RSC by Simon Trowbridge

★ Some views of the Old and New Theatres in Stratford in Old Postcards

★ The Stratford Guide. A tourist guide to the beautiful Warwickshire town of Stratford-Upon-Avon

★ Shakespeare Schools Festival