ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY APPOINTS DANIEL EVANS AND TAMARA HARVEY AS CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTORS
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The RSC today announce that Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, will be the Co-Artistic Directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company taking up the post from June 2023. Daniel is currently Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre and Tamara is Artistic Director of Theatr Clwyd. Daniel and Tamara are regular collaborators and applied together for the position.
Shriti Vadera, Chair of the RSC Board, said:
‘The Board is delighted to appoint Daniel and Tamara as Co-Artistic Directors from an exceptionally strong field of candidates. They bring a brilliant track record of artistic achievement with a strong commitment to education, communities and championing diverse talent and voices, alongside a proven strategic ability to lead major companies. Their partnership heralds an exciting vision for the future of the RSC to attract world-class artistic talent, captivate today’s audiences with Shakespeare, classics and new work, and increase radically the reach and impact of our pioneering learning, partnerships and digital work’.
Daniel Evans said:
‘I was fortunate to see so many inspiring performances at Stratford during my teenage years; and later celebrated my 21st birthday there during my first professional job post-drama school. So, to be returning to the RSC as its Co-Artistic Director is immensely meaningful to me. To do so alongside Tamara is a joy and a privilege. We share deep-rooted values and an ambitious vision for the Company, and we're both looking forward to working with Catherine and the team to begin this new, exciting chapter in the RSC's story.’
Tamara Harvey said:
‘Being taken to Stratford to see Murder in the Cathedral at the Swan when I was fifteen was one of the most vivid moments of my childhood. A sense of awe, but even then, a desire to get in there and start making plays: two feelings I continue to hold today. Stepping into this job is both the most exciting and the most daunting thing I’ve ever done. The great joy of working in partnership with Daniel, an artist I admire beyond measure, is that we share both that excitement and that awe at becoming the next custodians of this amazing company. We bring a shared belief in all that the RSC can be - a home for radical, relevant theatre made by artists from across the UK and the wider world. A global community inspired by Shakespeare, bringing together myriad voices to tell the stories of our time - and of all time.
Catherine Mallyon, Executive Director, said:
‘I am excited to start a new leadership relationship with Daniel and Tamara who have a profound understanding of the RSC as a theatre and learning charity, combined with the high levels of the skill, imagination, talent and commitment required to make captivating theatre, unlock potential and inspire change’.
Shriti Vadera, Chair of the RSC Board, chaired the Artistic Director Recruitment Panel comprising: Noma Dumezweni, Nicholas Hytner, Genista McIntosh, Ayanna Thompson, Mark Thompson. Observers to the process were Neil Darlison (Arts Council England) and Donna Munday. At the final stage candidates also met key stakeholders, including the other trustees on the Board, the RSC Youth Advisory Board and the Senior Leadership Team (see notes to editors).
The Artistic Director role was publicly advertised in April 2022, following Gregory Doran’s decision to step down. Gregory has taken on the role of Artistic Director Emeritus until the end of 2023 and will direct his 50th production for the Company in Spring 2023.
At the request of the Board, Erica Whyman will continue as Acting Artistic Director until June 2023, and she will then leave the Company to pursue a freelance career. The 2023 Season announcement, which is programmed by Erica will be released on Tuesday 27 September.
Shriti Vadera said:
‘We are enormously grateful for Erica’s generous and inclusive leadership and significant contribution to the Company over the last decade, including her championing of new work, her commitment to the RSC as a truly national organisation with our ground-breaking national partnerships, and of course as director across all our stages.’
ENDS
For further information contact: jane.ellis@rsc.org.uk (07966 295032) or Kate.evans@rsc.org.uk (07920 244434)
NOTES TO EDITORS
DANIEL EVANS:
Daniel Evans grew up in South Wales and was educated in Welsh before training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He left college early in 1994 to join the Royal Shakespeare Company and returned to the company a decade later. His work as an actor has spanned Shakespeare, Sondheim and Sarah Kane, at the RSC, National Theatre, Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse, Menier, Sheffield and on Broadway. He’s the recipient of two Olivier Awards for his Sondheim performances.
In 2009, he was appointed Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres where he directed, among others, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Hare and Lerner and Lowe, as well as acting in Sondheim.
In 2016, he was appointed Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre. During his tenure, CFT produced 17 world premieres, while 5 shows transferred to London or Broadway. Alongside Executive Director, Kathy Bourne, CFT navigated the challenges of the pandemic, advancing the meaningful work with and for the community in West Sussex.
TAMARA HARVEY:
Tamara Harvey was born in Botswana and grew up in Massachusetts and Brighton before graduating from the University of Bristol. She was a directing intern at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and her first professional job in theatre was as assistant director at Shakespeare’s Globe under Mark Rylance. Her work as a freelance director has included Shakespeare, classic revivals, new writing and musical theatre, at theatres in the West End, around the UK and in the USA.
In 2015, she was appointed Artistic Director of Theatr Clwyd. Together with Executive Director Liam Evans-Ford, she has built partnerships and co-productions across the UK, including with the National Theatre, Paines Plough, the Sherman Theatre, National Theatre of Wales, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, ETT, Sheffield Theatres, the NHS, Social Services, the National Youth Theatre of Wales and the National Trust. Her award-winning shows for Theatr Clwyd include Home, I’m Darling by Laura Wade (nominated for five Olivier Awards, winning Best New Comedy), Peter Gill’s version of Uncle Vanya, digital adaptations of The Picture of Dorian Gray and What A Carve Up! and Isla, which she then directed for the BBC. Theatr Clwyd has also, under her and Liam’s leadership, become a vibrant and vital home for its community, with far-reaching programmes for young and old, working across health and well-being, social services, music, dance, visual arts and theatre.
Selection panel:
Shriti Vadera, Chair of the RSC Board, and chair of the Artistic Director Recruitment Panel drawing on her over 38 years’ experience at senior levels in the public and private sectors and current role as Chair of Prudential.
Noma Dumezweni –RSC Associate Artist, multi-award-winning actor including an Olivier Award for originating the role of Hermione Grainger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Nicholas Hytner – Artistic Director of the Bridge Theatre which opened in 2017, and previously Director of the National Theatre from 2003 – 2015.
Genista McIntosh - RSC Board Deputy Chair & Trustee from 2010-2021. She has fulfilled many senior roles in the arts including at the RSC and as Executive Director of the National Theatre from 1990-2002.
Ayanna Thompson - RSC Trustee and Board Member since 2021. A Regents Professor of English and director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Ayanna was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021 and is Shakespeare Scholar in Residence at The Public Theater, New York.
Mark Thompson – RSC Deputy Chair and Trustee since 2016. He is currently Chairman of Ancestry and was previously CEO of The New York Times Company (2012 – 2020), Director-General of the BBC (2004 – 2012) and CEO of Channel Four Television (2002 - 2004).
Observers to the process were Neil Darlison (Arts Council England) and Donna Munday
The RSC is supported using public funding by Arts Council England
The work of the RSC is supported by the Culture Recovery Fund
The RSC is generously supported by RSC America
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a theatre and learning charity that creates world class theatre, made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world, performing plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as commissioning an exceptionally wide range of original work from contemporary writers. Our purpose is to ensure that Shakespeare is for everyone, and we do that by unlocking the power of his plays and of live performance and out learning and education work throughout the UK and across the world.
We believe everybody’s life is enriched by culture and creativity. We have trained generations of the very best theatre makers and we continue to nurture the talent of the future. Our transformative Learning programmes reach over half a million young people and adults each year, and through our Creative Placemaking and Public Programme we create projects with and for communities who have not historically engaged with our work. We are a leader in creative immersive technologies and digital development.
We have a proud record of innovation, diversity and excellence on stage and are determined to grasp the opportunity to become an even more inclusive, progressive, relevant and ambitious organisation.
We have one of the UK’s largest arts learning programmes, working with over 1,000 schools each year to broaden access to high quality arts learning and transform experiences of Shakespeare in schools. Through our national partnership programme with schools and regional theatres we target areas of structural disadvantage, including 26 areas of multiple deprivation across the country, from Cornwall to Middlesbrough. Research shows that our approaches to teaching Shakespeare support the development of reading and writing skills, accelerate language acquisition and development, raise aspirations and improve student attitudes to school and learning in general. They also foster well-being, self-esteem, empathy, resilience and tolerance and promote critical-thinking, creative, analytical, communication and problem-solving skills.
We are committed to being a teaching and learning theatre and we are the only arts organisation to have been awarded Independent Research Organisation status. We create world class theatre for, with and by audiences and theatre makers of all ages. We provide training for emerging and established theatre makers and arts professionals, for teachers and for young people. We share learning formally and informally. We embed training and research across our company, work and processes.
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Arts Council England is the national development body for arts and culture across England, working to enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to visual art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.www.artscouncil.org.uk