The new 1,000-seat Courtyard Theatre opened in July 2006 with Michael Boyd’s staging of the Henry VI trilogy as part of the Complete Works of Shakespeare Festival.  The new venue will allow the Company to continue performing in Stratford-upon-Avon during the transformation of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

The Courtyard Theatre’s stage configuration will be a prototype for the redeveloped Royal Shakespeare Theatre.  The Courtyard Theatre is the RSC’s main theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon while work on transforming the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is carried out.

When the development of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is complete, The Courtyard Theatre will be dismantled and The Other Place will re-open as the RSC’s studio theatre.