The Royal Shakespeare Company(RSC), closed its main stage, The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) at the end of April 2007 and its Elizabethan stage, The Swan, in August 2007, to add the latest, 21st century theatre technology.
The multi-million pound renovations, scheduled for completion in 2010, will add a new thrust stage, better foyers, shops and audience facilities, an expanded bar and restaurant and new spaces for platform performances, talks and concerts.
Meanwhile, the temporary theatre, The Courtyard, is doing stand in duty as the company's main theatre for Shakespeare plays. The temporary theatre, in a huge "hangar" on land formerly occupied by the studio theatre, The Other Place, has been designed to give audiences an advanced taste of the new theatre's playing space. When construction works are finished in 2010, the Courtyard will be dismantled and the intimacy of The Other Place will be restored.
The company continues to present a full schedule of work, occasionally using Stratford-upon-Avon's Civic Hall and even the great outdoors. Here's what you can expect in 2007-2008.
- Ian McKellen continues in King Lear, which closed the 2006-2007 Complete Works Festival, until late June.
- Frances Barber, Romola Garai and Jonathan Hyde take onThe Seagull by Chekov until late June.
- The two-year, Complete History Play Cycle, which began in February 2006 will run through early March 2008, includingRichard II, Henry IV, Part I, Henry IV, Part II, Henry V, Henry VI, Parts I,II and III and Richard III.
- Twelfth Night is the delightful summer and autumn comedy.
- Macbeth, runs alongside Eugene Ionesco's Macbett, at The Swan until late July.
- Dash Arts presentsA Midsummer Night's Dream in a production that includes actors, dancers, acrobats, martial arts experts and street performers from India and Sri Lanka,
- Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood adapts her book The Penelopiad for the stage, relating the women's side of Odysseus's return in song, storytelling and choral work.
- Noughts & Crosses a story inspired by Romeo and Juliet, from November 2007 to February 2008.
And for the kids
Roald Dahl's The Fantastic Mr. Fox is adapted for puppets at Stratford-upon-Avon's Civic Hall as a Christmas season treat, from December 19, 2007 to January 4, 2008. Plus the theatre has planned a full list of workshops, special performances and storytelling to introduce children as young as five years old to stories as complex as King Lear. This could be a way to fire up a lifelong passion.The complete schedule, with dates of plays in repertoire and current ticket availability, can be found at the RSC website, where good value tickets, ranging from £5 to about £40, can be purchased.
