14 March, 2013 - 26 October, 2013
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire

Shakespeare's birthplace enjoys a long pedigree as a theatrical shrine to England's most illustrious playwright. The first Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was inaugurated at Stratford in 1879, with a production of Much Ado About Nothing. This theatre, which received its royal charter in 1925, burnt to the ground in 1926. In 1928 the architect Elisabeth Scott was appointed to design the new theatre, which opened in 1932.

The Royal Shakespeare Company was formally established in 1961, under the artistic directorship of Peter Hall. The subsequent directors were Trevor Nunn, Terry Hands, Adrian Noble and Michael Boyd.

A small studio theatre, called The Other Place, was opened in 1974. The Swan Theatre - an indoor version of an Elizabethan theatre - is temporarily closed, as part of an ambitious project to revamp the theatre complex, creating a thrust stage auditorium.

The roster of stars who have performed at the RSC in their professional careers is impressive: Paul Scofield, Ian Holm, Peggy Aschroft, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Anthony Sher, Derek Jacobi, Sinead Cusack, Alan Rickman, Lindsay Duncan, Juliet Stevenson, Ralph Fiennes, Kenneth Branagh, to name but a few. In recent months there have been record-breaking audiences at Stratford for David Tennant's Hamlet.

2012  was a special year in which the RSC celebrated as the world's greatest  playwright, in  The World Shakespeare Festival, an unprecedented collaboration with leading UK and international arts organisations.

The RSC summer season in 2013 will feature the following productions: Hamlet, Henry V, The Empress, As You Like It, TItus Andronicus, A Mad World My Masters, All's Wll That Ends Well, Candide.

 

http://www.rsc.org.uk

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