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), in April 2006 the RSC are beginning a year long project to stage the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. ([1] Project link])
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)
- 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)
- This England: The Histories (2000), a season of all Shakespeare's sequential history plays
- The Crucible, (2006)
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
The following notable actors have appeared in RSC productions.
- Joss Ackland
- Miles Anderson
- Francesca Annis
- Alun Armstrong
- Peggy Ashcroft
- Eileen Atkins
- Simon Russell Beale
- Paul Bettany
- Brian Blessed
- Samantha Bond
- Kenneth Branagh
- Brenda Bruce
- David Cross
- Cheryl Campbell
- Niamh Cusack
- Tim Curry
- Timothy Dalton
- Charles Dance
- Judi Dench
- Roy Dotrice
- Lindsay Duncan
- Mia Farrow
- Ralph Fiennes
- Oliver Ford Davies
- Philip Franks
- Iain Glen
- Julian Glover
- Derek Godfrey
- Patrick Godfrey
- Henry Goodman
- Richard Griffiths
- Mike Gwilym
- Nigel Hawthorne
- Dustin Hoffman
- Ian Holm
- Michael Horden
- Alan Howard
- Geoffrey Hutchings
- Jeremy Irons
- Glenda Jackson
- Derek Jacobi
- Emrys James
- Alex Jennings
- Griffith Jones
- Alexis Kanner
- Charles Kay
- Ben Kingsley
- Jane Lapotaire
- Barbara Leigh-Hunt
- Anton Lesser
- Cherie Lunghi
- Alec McCowen
- Ian McDiarmid
- Ian McKellen
- Brewster Mason
- Daniel Massey
- Joe Melia
- Helen Mirren
- John Nettles
- Peter O'Toole
- Richard Pasco
- Trevor Peacock
- Bob Peck
- Michael Pennington
- Edward Petherbridge
- Sian Phillips
- Ronald Pickup
- Eric Porter
- Mike Pratt
- Hugh Quarshie
- Diana Quick
- Roger Rees
- Ian Richardson
- Alan Rickman
- Diana Rigg
- Norman Rodway
- Clifford Rose
- Mark Rylance
- Fiona Shaw
- Sebastian Shaw
- Antony Sher
- John Shrapnel
- Donald Sinden
- Timothy Spall
- Elizabeth Spriggs
- Toby Stephens
- Juliet Stevenson
- Patrick Stewart
- Imogen Stubbs
- David Suchet
- Janet Suzman
- David Threlfall
- Frances de la Tour
- Margaret Tyzack
- David Waller
- Harriet Walter
- David Warner
- Zoë Wanamaker
- Dennis Waterman
- Ruby Wax
- Samuel West
- Michael Williams
- John Wood
- John Woodvine
- Irene Worth
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