RSC to focus 2021 Stratford-Upon-Avon programme in Royal Shakespeare Theatre

With both the Swan Theatre and The Other Place staying closed until 2022, the RSC has stated that it will be focussing its programming over the next year in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Their education and streaming activity will continue throughout Autumn and Winter, allowing people to experience Shakespeare and the RSC in their homes and schools.

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre will begin to welcome back audiences this winter, for the first time since March, by staging small-scale socially distanced performances that will also be available for streaming. Further details will be announced in November.

There will also be free outdoor activities staged and there are plans to reopen Matilda in the West End as soon as it becomes financially viable.

A full re-opening of the theatre is also in the works from Spring 2021, with full-scale productions of both The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors being planned, as well as the production of The Magician’s Elephant, due to open November 2021. Tickets for the new family musical, based on Kate DiCamillo’s novel, are currently on sale. The show will be directed by Sarah Tipple with music and lyrics by Nancy Harris and Marc Teitler.

Unfortunately, the continued closure of the Swan Theatre means the production of The War of the Roses Parts 1 & 2, which had already been rescheduled once, has now been delayed again until 2022. The RSC ticketing team will contact ticket holders.

The RSC is also planning to stream 2016’s production of Hamlet with Paapa Essiedu to schools across the UK, free of charge in the week commencing 16 November, as part of the RSC free schools broadcast series.

Talking about the ongoing impact of the pandemic and the future of the RSC, Gregory Doran, Artistic Director said: “We look ahead with optimism to 2021 when we plan for our postponed productions of The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors to finally make it to the stage, and for our glorious Matilda The Musical to re-open at the Cambridge Theatre alongside other shows to reignite the vital West End economy.  We want our brilliant workforce, permanent and freelance, to be back doing what they do best, making live theatre.

“Throughout the pandemic we have supported young people and teachers around the country through RSC Education.  It’s critical work that responds directly to support teachers and young people need now, and this will continue through newly developed ways of working that support learning at home and in school.

“We continue to face the challenges of the ongoing pandemic and today was a difficult day as we began formal consultation about potential redundancies with our fantastic staff.  We will continue to respond creatively to the ongoing crisis and look forward to the moment when we can reopen our doors with full-scale productions to celebrate all that is brilliant about live theatre.”

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