RSC reveals outline plans for a transformed home
14 June 2006
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has unveiled plans to transform its home in Stratford-upon-Avon, opening up the 1932 Royal Shakespeare Theatre and bringing the audience and actors closer together in a more engaging auditorium for Shakespeare. The Company has already received pledges for 85 per cent of the £100 million required for the project.
Initial designs from project architects Bennetts Associates will restore the key Art Deco elements of the Grade II* listed theatre while creating a more welcoming, combined entrance for both the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres.
A new auditorium for Shakespeare
At the heart of the project is a new main stage for the Company, designed with theatre consultants Charcoalblue. The new Royal Shakespeare Theatre will replace the 1932 auditorium which owes more to cinema than theatre design and separates the audience from the actors.
The RSC's ambition is to create the best theatre for Shakespeare in the world, a modern take on the courtyard theatres of Shakespeare's day, with a thrust stage auditorium seating just over 1,000 people. The aim is to transform the relationship between artists and audiences, reducing the distance from the furthest seat to the stage from 30 to 15 metres.
RSC Artistic Director, Michael Boyd, said:
'We want to move away from the 19th Century proscenium 'picture frame' to a theatre which celebrates interaction. Our commitment to bring an immediacy and clarity to Shakespeare means we need to bring the audience to a more engaged relationship with our actors. The best way we can achieve this is in a bold, thrust-stage, one-room auditorium – a modern take on the theatres of Shakespeare's day.'
Key elements of the scheme include:
- A new 1,000 seat thrust stage for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre;
- Restoration of the valued heritage elements of the building;
- An accessible riverside walkway running alongside the RSC's theatres enhancing access to the river and gardens;
- Dramatically expanded and fully accessible public areas with improved facilities for audiences, including a rooftop café/restaurant and two new café/bars, foyers linking the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres, and more and better toilets;
- A theatre tower marking a new entrance, providing circulation to all parts of the building and unrivalled views across Stratford;
- A public square, providing a meeting place and outdoor stage for music and performance that connects the theatres and their surrounding environment;
- Improved and accessible backstage conditions for artists and stage crew, including new dressing rooms as well as training, study and rehearsal spaces for actors;
- A centre for the RSC's workshop, learning and administrative facilities immediately opposite the theatre, providing opportunities for tours revealing the backstage life of the Company.
RSC to perform in Stratford throughout the project
The RSC, which contributes £57 million a year to the economy of the West Midlands, will continue performing in Stratford throughout the transformation at a new, temporary venue, The Courtyard Theatre. In addition to a year-round presence in Stratford, the Company will continue to perform in London, Newcastle and on tour in the UK and overseas during construction work on the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres.
The 1,000 seat Courtyard Theatre, designed by Ian Ritchie Architects, opens in July 2006 with Michael Boyd's Olivier Award winning production of Shakespeare's Henry VI trilogy. Built as an extension to The Other Place, the RSC's studio theatre, The Courtyard Theatre is a prototype for the auditorium in the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
Following the transformation of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, The Other Place will then be restored as a home for the Company's small scale and experimental work.
£85 million already pledged
The RSC has already secured 85 per cent of the funding required for the £100 million transformation project. In 2005 Arts Council England confirmed their £50 million pledge for the project to be matched from other sources. In January this year, regional development agency Advantage West Midlands pledged to invest a further £20 million in the project to reflect the RSC's position as a flagship for cultural tourism and a significant economic force in the region.
RSC Honorary Associate Artist, Dame Judi Dench and RSC Deputy Chair Susie Sainsbury, will lead the international fundraising campaign to reach the £100 million target. The RSC has already secured over £15 million in private pledges, with significant commitments from the RSC Board and Governors and supporters in the West Midlands. As with the fundraising for the construction of the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres, funding has also been secured from donors in the United States through RSC America and its Board members.
Wide ranging consultation
The RSC has undertaken a wide-ranging programme of public consultation, shaped by a Community Forum which was set up in March 2005 and is chaired by Professor Sir Brian Follett, former Vice Chancellor at the University of Warwick. The Company has also canvassed opinions widely among actors, theatre artists, staff, and crucially, audiences. Research among RSC audiences shows their priorities include: improved sightlines; more foyer space and informal spaces to meet; and better use of the theatres' riverside setting. Consultation continues through the refinement of the outline designs.
The RSC's plans have been developed in tandem with the proposals from Stratford-on-Avon District Council and Warwickshire County Council to develop the waterfront area in the town. The RSC is working closely with the local authorities on a shared vision and master-plan for the waterfront.
Timetable
Work on the transformation of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is scheduled to start in Spring 2007 following the RSC's year-long Complete Works festival. The Company expects to submit a planning and listed building application later this year. The Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres will re-open in 2010.
RSC Chairman, Sir Christopher Bland, said:
'We are delighted with the work Bennetts Associates has done so far with the RSC team, which has the enthusiastic support of the entire Board. The architects have demonstrated that it is possible to transform the existing Royal Shakespeare Theatre in a way that marries the best of the past with our ambition to create the finest modern playhouse in the world for Shakespeare.
'We want to open up the theatre and improve its relationship with the town. At the moment, we have a building that can feel like a fortress. At this outline stage of the design process, I'm confident that we've got a scheme that reflects the RSC's ambition to reach out and make Shakespeare fresh and relevant to a new generation.'
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Further information
For more information contact:
Roger Mortlock
RSC Director of Communications
01789 412667 (office)
07980 758903 (mobile)
roger.mortlock@rsc.org.uk
Jane Ellis
RSC Communications Manager
01789 412668 (office)
07966 295032 (mobile)
jane.ellis@rsc.org.uk
Images of the outline designs for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre are available online through the Electronic Press Office http://www.epo-online.com/.
RSC transformation website – www.rsc.org.uk/transformation.
Notes to editors
Project costs
Fundraising progress
Lead contributors to the fundraising campaign at June 2006 include:
RSC Board and Governors
Arts Council England Lottery Fund
Advantage West Midlands
CHK Charities Limited
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
The Iliffe Family Charitable Trust
The John W. Kluge Foundation
PACCAR
Stratford-upon-Avon Town Trust
Information on the architects
More information on Bennetts Associates from http://www.bennettsassociates.com/
More information on Ian Ritchie Architects from http://www.ianritchiearchitects.co.uk/
Project consultants
Bennetts Associates - Architects
Charcoalblue - Theatre Consultants
Gardiner & Theobald LLP - Quantity Surveyor/Cost Consultant and Planning Supervisor
Buro Happold - Engineers
Buro Happold – Transport consultants
David Bonnett Associates - Access consultants
Drivers Jonas - Strategic Planning Advisors
Acoustic Dimensions - Acoustic Engineer
Jenkins & Clarke - Landscape Architect
Linklaters - Legal Advisors
Pinsent Masons - Legal Planning Advisors
Potted history of Stratford’s theatres and RSC sites
Change and reinvention has been a significant part of the RSC site history. In all some 17 theatres have been purpose built or improvised since 1746.
- The Royal Shakespeare Company traces its roots directly to the pioneering work of Charles Edward Flower whose vision and philanthropy established the first permanent Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1879.
- 1864 For the tercentenary of Shakespeare’s birth, Charles Flower’s wife, Sarah, spearheaded the construction of another rotunda pavilion on the site now occupied by the Avonbank Paddocks development.
- 1875 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Ltd incorporated. Charles Edward Flower (Chairman) commissioned the world’s first arts centre (theatre, picture gallery, library and music room) and gives the land and the greater part of the building costs.
- 1879 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opened (800 seats), now The Swan Theatre. The Germanic fantasy and towering pinnacles of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre by Edward Dodgshun and William Unsworth.
- 1926 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre destroyed by fire. The shell was used for many years afterwards as a conference venue, scenery store and rehearsal room. Performances were temporarily transferred to the Stratford Cinema on Greenhill Street.
- 1932 After an international fundraising campaign spearheaded by the Flower family, and an international architectural competition, Elisabeth Scott’s Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was opened by The Prince of Wales in 1932.
- 1961 Chartered name of the corporation and the Stratford theatre become ‘Royal Shakespeare’.
- 1974 The Other Place theatre created from a prefabricated former store and rehearsal room in Stratford.
- 1986 The shell of the 1879 theatre was converted to the Swan Theatre.
- 1990 The current The Other Place theatre and rehearsal studios were created on the site of the former corrugated iron sheds which Buzz Goodbody turned into a studio theatre in the late 1970s.
