Despite our theatres being closed for full productions until 2021, our acting company continue to work on events and activity, including our programme of outdoor Shakespeare in Stratford.
We will look at what other events, and online activity we can continue to provide for our audiences in the autumn and winter.
Our work in partnership with teachers and schools to support children and young people as they return to school is ongoing, with communities across the country and alongside our regional theatre partners.
Planned performances and other ticketed events scheduled for the autumn and winter have been postponed or cancelled including:
- All planned performances of The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors are postponed
- The Wars of The Roses Part 1 and Part 2 - postponed from autumn 2020 until autumn 2021
- Our new family musical The Magician’s Elephant - postponed from winter 2020 until winter 2021
- The First Encounters with Shakespeare tour of Twelfth Night - postponed until 2021
- Our Barbican annual residency for 2020 - cancelled
- All performances of Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre are cancelled until the end of October 2020
- All other events cancelled, including RSC Summer School
The ability to stage the productions is dependent on government advice on social distancing and whether it is financially viable to open our theatres and perform to audiences.
Whilst physically closed to audiences and visitors, our extensive online performance, event and education activity continues. Find out more with Home Learning with the RSC and At Home with Shakespeare.
CONTACTING TICKET BUYERS
Our Box Office team is in the process of contacting everyone who has tickets booked for all cancelled or postponed performances to discuss their options. These include the possibility of exchanging tickets to our Winter 2021 season (The Magician’s Elephant and The Wars of the Roses), donating the cost of tickets, accepting an RSC Gift Voucher or arranging a full refund.
Owing to the volume of orders we need to process, we are contacting people in date order, in the week that they were due to attend a performance. We will therefore be in touch with you at the start of the week during which you were due to visit us.
Please do not try and contact the Box Office at the moment; we promise we will be in touch with you as soon as we can.
Gregory Doran, RSC Artistic Director and Catherine Mallyon, RSC Executive Director, said:
“These are the most difficult times for all theatres and arts venues, whether big or small. It is incredibly sad to see our theatres and those of our partner theatres around the country closed at this time. We continue to do everything we can to bring them back to life as soon as possible, so we can welcome back our audiences to share the experience of live theatre with them. We can only do this when it is safe and when social distancing restrictions are lifted, making it financially viable for us to do so. Alongside our colleagues across the industry, we can and want to play a crucial role in the recovery of the country.
“We are grateful for the government support to date and for the continuing generosity of our donors and audiences, and we are asking people to consider donating to give us the best possible chance of reopening. To secure the future of the RSC for everyone we need financial support until we can start earning our own income again as our reserves will not last indefinitely.
“Since we closed our doors, we have received support through messages and donations from the public, our audiences and supporters. We thank everybody for those messages of support. We are also grateful for the commitment and understanding of our staff, most of whom cannot be at work now. The hunger for the arts during the crisis is there for all to see. Theatre and the arts give strength to people in difficult times, they lift the spirits and bring a sense of community, which is desperately needed right now. We are determined to be back with live performances, and we are looking forward to when that time comes.”
Contact us
Our phone lines are closed. If you were due to visit us, our Box Office team will be in touch to discuss your refund options. If you do need to get in touch with us, then please email tickets@rsc.org.uk.
Do you have more questions? Visit our main Contact Us and FAQs page.