ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY ANNOUNCES ‘ROME’ SPRING/SUMMER 2017 SEASON

Royal Shakespeare Theatre 

Today the Royal Shakespeare Company announces the artistic programme for 2017’s Spring/Summer season, leading with four of Shakespeare’s most political and bloody plays, set in and around ancient Rome. 

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE

Julius Caesar, directed by Angus Jackson – 3 March to 9 September 2017, Live to cinemas 26 April

Antony & Cleopatra, directed by Iqbal Khan – 11 March to 7 September 2017, Live to cinemas 24 May

Titus Andronicus, directed by Blanche McIntyre – 23 June to 2 September 2017, Live to cinemas 9 August

Coriolanus, directed by Angus Jackson – dates to be announced – booking opens February 2017

Angus Jackson, who recently directed the sell-out RSC productions of Oppenheimer and Don Quixote, is season director for the Rome season.  He will direct the opening and closing plays of the season, Julius Caesar and Coriolanus. Iqbal Khan returns to the company to direct Antony & Cleopatra, with Josette Simon taking on the role of Cleopatra after her last RSC appearance in Michael Boyd’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1999. Blanche McIntyre will direct Titus Andronicus, following on from this summer’s production of The Two Noble Kinsmen.

Julius Caesar begins the season, with the politics of spin and betrayal turning to violence in a race to claim the empire, after the all-conquering Caesar returns from war. 

Next is Antony & Cleopatra.  Following Caesar’s assassination and his own rise to power, Mark Antony chooses a life of decadent seduction with Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, where his military brilliance deserts him and his passion leads the lovers to their tragic end. 

The decay of Rome reaches its violent depths in Shakespeare’s bloodiest play Titus Andronicus.  Titus is a ruler exhausted by war and leaves Rome in disarray, with rape, cannibalism and brutality filling the moral void at the heart of a corrupt society. 

Coriolanus concludes the season, as famine stalks Rome and the citizens rise up. The rioting is halted by war and Caius Martius leads the Roman Army to victory, but the people turn against him and he is banished.  He vows revenge and returns at the head of the Volscian army to march on Rome. 

Angus has put together a creative team who will share a scenic aesthetic for all four plays, designed by Robert Innes Hopkins. This, together with a reconfiguration of the stage, will bring an added intimacy to what will be a brutal, bloody and thrilling programme in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Draw New Mischief exhibition - The season is accompanied by a new free exhibition from March to September, in the PACCAR Room, looking at 200 years of British political cartoons inspired by Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s Rome debates – A series of debates will explore the power dynamics of Shakespeare’s Rome through the lens of politics today. The panels will include directors and actors from the season. 29 April, 20 July, 4 August, at The Other Place. www.rsc.org.uk/debates

SWAN THEATRE

Snow in Midsummer by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, based on the classical Chinese drama by Guan Hanqing, directed by Justin Audibert   23 February to 25 March 2017

The Hypocrite, by Richard Bean, directed by Phillip Breen, presented by the RSC, Hull Truck Theatre and Hull UK City of Culture 2017    30 March – 29 April 2017

Vice Versa (or the Decline and Fall of General Braggadocio at the hands of his canny servant Dexter and Terence the monkey), by Phil Porter, lovingly ripped off from the plays of Plautus    11 May – 29 September 2017

Salomé by Oscar Wilde, directed by Owen Horsley   2 June to 6 September 2017

Venus & Adonis, directed by Gregory Doran   26 July to 4 August 2017

Dido, Queen of Carthage, by Christopher Marlowe, directed by Kimberley Sykes Dates to be announced, booking opens Feb 2017

The Swan Theatre opens with the world premiere of Snow in Midsummer, a contemporary re-imagining of Guan Hanqing’s Chinese classic drama by the playwright, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, and directed by Justin Audibert.

Framed for a crime she did not commit, a young girl, Dou Yi, calls upon heaven and earth to prove her innocence and is answered by a snowstorm in midsummer and a devastating drought.  Arriving three years later in a town now struggling for survival, a family is drawn into a search for truth, as the ghost of Dou Yi demands revenge on the corrupt system, which tried to silence her.

This haunting story of social injustice, originally from 13^th century Yuan dynasty China, has been translated into a literal translation by Gigi Chang and re-imagined into a contemporary play by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig. This production is the first fruit of the RSC’s ongoing Chinese Classics Translations Project, a cultural exchange bringing Chinese classics to a modern Western audience.

The Chinese Classics translations project sits alongside the RSC’s Shakespeare Folio project to translate Shakespeare into actor and audience-friendly Chinese versions.  The first of the Shakespeare translations will be staged in China this autumn, when the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre produces Henry V.  RSC Associate Director, Owen Horsley, directs the Chinese cast.  Henry V has been directly translated by So Kwok Wan and adapted for the stage in a new version by Nick Yu. It runs at SDAC from 11 – 27 November 2016.

The Swan Theatre then sees a co-production with Hull Truck Theatre and Hull UK City of Culture 2017 of The Hypocrite by the award-winning playwright, Richard Bean, directed by Phillip Breen and designed by Max Jones.  Bean’s play is a riotous new comedy inspired by the infamous moment in Hull’s history which started the English Civil War. It transfers to Stratford straight from Hull, where it plays at Hull Truck Theatre as part of the UK City of Culture programme, prior to its RSC run.

Both these productions play in straight runs before the Swan Theatre also turns its attention to a season touched by Rome.  Vice Versa (or the Decline and Fall of General Braggadocio at the hands of his canny servant Dexter and Terence the monkey) opens the repertoire, written by Phil Porter, whose acclaimed play, The Christmas Truce, marked the WWI anniversary at Stratford in 2014.  Inspired by the comedies of Plautus, Vice Versa is a comic romp about a wily servant and a pair of wronged lovers who bamboozle a pompous general.  It is directed by Janice Honeyman, who was last at the RSC to direct the Baxter Theatre Centre’s production of The Tempest with Antony Sher.

The season continues with Oscar Wilde’s lyrical one-act play, Salomé, set during the reign of Tiberius, and staged to mark 50 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales.  Originally banned in Britain, Wilde’s Salomé is a powerful and enigmatic figure, both erotic and chaste. The prophet, Jokanaan, rejects the sexual advances of Herod’s stepdaughter Salomé.  When she is compelled to dance by Herod, Salomé is filled by lust-driven revenge and demands Jokanaan’s head as payment. This new production, directed by Owen Horsley, Associate Director on the RSC’s ‘King & Country’ season, explores sexual ambiguity in the contemporary world. 

Gregory Doran then revives Venus & Adonis, his unique version of Shakespeare’s great erotic poem, created with Little Angel Puppet Theatre.  This was Shakespeare’s first bestseller, drawn from Ovid’s famous tale.  The production tells the raunchy story of Venus and her obsession with handsome Adonis using narration, music and puppetry. 

Christopher Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage, concludes the season, directed by Kimberley Sykes, who was Associate Director on the RSC’s recent production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

RSC Artistic Director, Gregory Doran, said:

“Exactly 2000 years after the death of Roman poet Ovid, whose work has inspired artists for millennia, we stage Shakespeare’s four great political thrillers in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, in a new season touched by the influence of Rome.

“Ovid was probably Shakespeare’s greatest inspiration and his stories are sprinkled throughout his plays, most prominently the comedy of Pyramus and Thisbe in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.   

“But today, some of those fantastical stories are being forgotten and our appreciation of Shakespeare's plays will be lessened if that happens.  Who was Proserpina, and why did she “let her flowers fall “? What happened when glistering Phaeton lost the manage of his father's chariot? And why was Niobe "all tears". We will uncover all this and more next year as we celebrate 2000 years of Ovid’s influence.

“I am delighted that Angus Jackson will be season director and he directs our opening production, Julius Caesar.  This will be crosscast with Antony & Cleopatra, directed by Iqbal Khan (director of last year's Othello), and I am very pleased Josette Simon returns to the company to play Cleopatra. Titus Andronicus will join the season in the summer, directed by Blanche McIntyre (currently directing The Two Noble Kinsmen in the Swan), and we conclude the programme with Angus’s production of Coriolanus.

“Next year, we also celebrate our many partnerships across the world as the fruits of these launch our Swan season. Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s Snow in Midsummer is a reimagining of one of the most famous Chinese classical dramas and will be the first production here as part of our long term cultural exchange programme with China.  We are thrilled to be working with Hull Truck Theatre and Hull UK City of Culture 2017, to stage Richard Bean’s hilarious new farce about the English Civil War, The Hypocrite.

“We follow these productions with a return to the Roman theme.  Shakespeare and his fellow writers also plundered Plautus' Comedies for plots, so we asked Phil Porter to look at the work of this great Roman writer.  He has produced a wonderfully rude and funny new version, called Vice Versa (or the Decline and Fall of General Braggadocio at the hands of his canny servant Dexter and Terence the monkey).

“The story of the seductress Salomé takes place during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius and is the subject of Oscar Wilde's play Salomé written in 1891. We are including this grandly sumptuous play in the season to mark 50 years since the Sexual Offences Act of 1967, which saw the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales. Owen Horsley, who was my Associate Director on the ‘King & Country’ season, will direct. 

“We will then revive my own production of Shakespeare’s great narrative poem, Venus & Adonis, based on Ovid’s tale and first presented as a puppet masque with the Little Angel Theatre in 2004. 

“The season concludes with Christopher Marlowe's Dido Queen of Carthage, directed by Kimberley Sykes, who has been one of Erica Whyman's Associate Directors on our Dream 16 tour. Kimberley, like Owen, will be making her directing debut in the Swan.  We’ve got a fantastic programme for next year with something for everybody, and look forward to announcing two further new work festivals in The Other Place as well as a whole variety of events and exhibitions.” 

RSC Executive Director, Catherine Mallyon, looks back on an extraordinary year:

“As we come towards the end of this incredible anniversary year, marking 400 years since Shakespeare’s death, it is a good moment to look back at what the Company has achieved in collaboration with so many partners and supporters. 

“The year started with Greg’s ambitious ‘King & Country’ tour, which moved from Stratford to London and then toured to China and New York, playing to packed houses, signalling the start of our long term cultural exchange programme with China.

“We celebrated Shakespeare’s birthday on 23 April with a party which spread across the whole of Stratford, across the UK and around the world, with the broadcast of ‘Shakespeare Live! From the RSC’ to 1.6m viewers on BBC Two and in cinemas, and which included a surprise appearance from our President HRH the Prince of Wales on stage alongside nine wonderful Hamlets. It is now available to share with everyone on the recently released DVD.

“It was also an opportunity for us to collaborate with over 20 partner theatres, hundreds of schools, with the BBC, the Royal Mint, the Royal Mail, the British Council, the GREAT campaign, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, the University of Birmingham, Selfridges department store, arts organisations and artists across the country and many more.

“Our flagship production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation, toured all the nations and regions of the UK, and involved nearly 84 amateur theatre makers, 13 partner theatres and over 580 children, and was captured by in a series of BBC documentaries.  No other theatre company has undertaken such a truly nationwide project.

“Our iconic venue The Other Place reopened with a new studio theatre and great spaces for rehearsals and for the public.

“Our beautiful Victorian Swan Wing also has a new life thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund and many other supporters, with a wonderful restoration and our first permanent exhibition, ‘The Play’s The Thing’, which opens next month.

“We have been able to bring even more of our work to London audiences, with 12 productions in the capital this year.  This autumn, Doctor Faustus and The Alchemist from our Swan repertoire join Cymbeline and King Lear at the Barbican and our gorgeous Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing productions open at Christmas at the Haymarket, following their runs in Chichester and Manchester. 

“Internationally, Matilda The Musical continues its successful journey with openings in Toronto, alongside our Broadway and West End productions and the Australian production, which recently won an unprecedented 13 Helpmann awards. We will be celebrating the London production’s fifth birthday in November, after being involved in this year’s Roald Dahl centenary celebrations.

“We end the anniversary year this winter with another ambitious first for the company as the technical innovation of The Tempest pushes theatrical boundaries, thanks to our partnership with Intel and association with The Imaginarium Studios.”

EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS

The Play’s The Thing

The RSC’s first ever permanent exhibition, ‘The Play’s The Thing’, opens on 22 October in the newly restored Swan Wing. This brand new exhibition showcases rarely-seen treasures from the archives, along with plenty of hands-on fun for all the family.  Try on a costume, become a director, learn how gory stage effects are made and admire astounding props, to discover how the RSC makes theatre at its best.  £8.50 adults, £4.25 children, £25.50 family ticket.

www.rsc.org.uk/events

EDUCATION UPDATE

Following the highly successful ‘Whose Culture?’ Shakespeare Symposium in July, which launched the RSC’s new Associate Schools programme and celebrated a decade of national partnerships with schools and regional theatres, the Company announces three initiatives:

First Encounters with Shakespeare: The Tempest: RSC Associate Schools and partner theatres around the country will host the Company’s latest First Encounters with Shakespeare production of The Tempest, which tours from January and plays in Stratford-upon-Avon from 3 - 4 February and 23 – 25 March 2017.

Rome Conference Series for 16-19 year olds:  As part of the Rome Season, the Education team also launches a new conference series for 16 – 19 year olds exploring some of the central questions posed by the season and their relevance to the world today.  The series will look at themes including the power of the state, the duty and role of the citizen, and democracy versus dictatorship, and will be supported by online provocations and conversations. Young people will have the opportunity to examine the creative choices made in the productions and to talk with actors, directors, leading political figures and academics about the relevance of the plays to their own lives.

Playmaking Festival 2017:  In the summer of 2017, the RSC celebrates its local and national school partnerships, inviting hundreds of young people to perform on its stages. At the heart of the Festival will be a promenade performance of Julius Caesar performed by the Stratford school community in various locations around the town, and a specially edited version of the play performed in the Swan Theatre by 6 – 18 year olds from 45 partner schools across the country. Both events will use live performance to explore the power of Shakespeare’s language and use of rhetoric with young people.

www.rsc.org.uk/education

LIVE FROM STRATFORD-UPON-AVON

Our series of productions, filmed live from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford to cinemas around the country and internationally, continues next year, with Picturehouse Entertainment as our worldwide distribution partner:

The Tempest 11 January 2017 and encore dates worldwide

Julius Caesar 26 April 2017 and encore dates worldwide

Antony & Cleopatra 24 May 2017 and encore dates worldwide

Titus Andronicus 9 August 2017 and encore dates worldwide

Onscreen.rsc.org.uk

-ends-

For further information, please contact liz.thompson@rsc.org.uk or Philippa.harland@rsc.org.uk 020 7845 0512

For press images, register free of charge via:

https://www.rsc.org.uk/press/press-resources/press-images

Social media at @RSCPress and @The RSC

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TICKETS: 01789 403493 or www.rsc.org.uk

 

SEASON AT A GLANCE

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE

All RST plays perform in repertoire apart from Coriolanus:

 

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Directed by Angus Jackson

3 March  2017  - 9 September 2017

Press night: 23 March, 1pm (double press day with Antony & Cleopatra)

 

Antony & Cleopatra by William Shakespeare

Directed by Iqbal Khan

11 March 2017 – 7 September 2017

Press night: 23 March, 7pm (double press day with Julius Caesar)

 

Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

Directed by Blanche McIntyre

23 June 2017 – 2 September 2017

Press night: 4 July, 7pm

 

Coriolanus by William Shakespeare

Directed by Angus Jackson

Press night: tbc

 

SWAN THEATRE

Snow in Midsummer by Ya-Chu Cowhig

Directed by Justin Audibert

23 February 2017 – 25 March 2017

Press night: 2 March, 7pm

 

The Hypocrite by Richard Bean

Directed by Phillip Breen

31 March 2017 – 29 April 2017

Regional Press night: 5 April, 7pm (National Press Night 1 March, Hull)

 

Vice Versa by Phil Porter

Directed by Janice Honeyman

11 May 2017 – 6 September 2017

Press night: 18 May, 7pm

 

Salomé by Oscar Wilde

Directed by Owen Horsley

2 January 2017 – 6 September 2017

Press night: 8 June 2017, 7pm

 

Venus & Adonis by William Shakespeare

Directed by Gregory Doran

26 July 2017 – 5 August

Press night: 27 July 2017, 1.00pm

 

Dido, Queen of Carthage by Christopher Marlowe

Directed by Kimberley Sykes

14 September 2017 – 28 October 2017

Press night: tbc

 

First Encounters with Shakespeare: The Tempest

Directed by Aileen Gonsalves

Touring schools and theatres 31 January – 25 March 2017

Press night at Springhead Primary School, Talke Pits, Stoke-on-Trent: 16 February 2017 1.30pm

 

 

BOOKING:

Advisory Council, Artists Circle, and Gold Patrons Monday 26 September

Silver Patrons Tuesday 27 September

Bronze Patrons Thursday 29 September

Members’ booking opens Monday 3 October

Subscribers’ booking opens Monday 17 October

PUBLIC BOOKING:  Monday 24 October 2016

www.rsc.org.uk or 01789 403493

Cinema bookings for live and encore screenings can be made at onscreen.rsc.org.uk

 

Notes to Editors:

The RSC is supported using public funding by Arts Council England

The RSC Acting Companies are generously supported by THE GATSBY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION and THE KOVNER FOUNDATION

The work of the RSC Literary Department is generously supported by THE DRUE HEINZ TRUST

Live from Stratford-upon-Avon is generously supported by SIDNEY E. FRANK FOUNDATION

BP £5 tickets and BP Shakespeare Pass for 16-25s
The BP £5 tickets and BP Shakespeare Pass for 16 – 25 year olds gives access to £5 tickets for all RSC productions whether we are performing in Stratford-upon-Avon, London or on tour. The pass enables 16-25 year olds to see five shows in Stratford-upon-Avon for £20 – the cheapest way to enjoy shows at the RSC. Tickets can be booked in advance on the phone, online or in person with some available for sale on the day of the performance.  The scheme is supported by Project Partner, BP

The refurbishment of the Swan Wing and The Play’s The Thing have been made possible through a £2.8 million award from the HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND, with generous support from the GARFIELD WESTON FOUNDATION, DCMS/WOLFSON MUSEUMS & GALLERIES IMPROVEMENT FUND, THE WOLFSON FOUNDATION and many other generous supporters.

The Play’s The Thing is supported by UBS

About UBS Wealth Management 

UBS is one of the world's leading financial firms. Protecting and managing wealth is at the heart of what we do, by providing superior investment advice and solutions for our clients and helping them to protect their assets in difficult market environments. In the UK and Jersey, UBS has over 850 people across a network of seven local offices delivering a complete wealth management service, ranging from investment management to wealth and financial planning, including tax planning and lending. UBS's Midlands office, based in Birmingham, has a team of experienced client advisors from diverse backgrounds. These local experts are clients' gateway to UBS's global network.

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company creates theatre at its best, made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world.

Everyone at the RSC - from actors to armourers, musicians to technicians - plays a part in creating the world you see on stage. All our productions begin life at our Stratford workshops and theatres and we bring them to the widest possible audience through our touring, residencies, live broadcasts and online activity. So wherever you experience the RSC, you experience work made in Shakespeare’s home town.

We encourage everyone to enjoy a lifelong relationship with Shakespeare and live theatre.  We produce an inspirational artistic programme each year, setting Shakespeare in context, alongside the work of his contemporaries and today’s writers.  We have trained generations of the very best theatre makers and we continue to nurture the talent of the future. We reach 530,000 children and young people annually through our education work, transforming their experiences in the classroom, in performance and online. 

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