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.  In 2007, when work on transforming the Royal Shakespeare Theatre begins, The Courtyard Theatre will become the RSC’s main theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

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.