RSC BARBICAN SEASON ANNOUNCED AS AUTUMN/WINTER SEASON GOES ON SALE
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Alongside one world premiere, three new Shakespeare productions and a major revival going on sale at Stratford, RSC Co-Artistic Directors, Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, today announce their first Winter season at the Barbican, which sees two critically acclaimed productions transfer from Stratford-upon-Avon.
The RSC’s co-production with Wise Children, The Buddha of Suburbia, a world premiere based on the novel by Hanif Kureishi, adapted for the stage by Emma Rice with Hanif Kureishi, will play the Barbican Theatre this autumn. It will be followed by director Eleanor Rhode’s 5-star production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Mathew Baynton as Bottom. Priority booking starts from Tuesday 18 June with public booking opening on Tuesday 9 July.
Tamara Harvey and Daniel Evans said, “We’re so proud that these two productions, led by two brilliant directors, will play the Barbican stage later this year. Together, they encapsulate one of our core missions at the RSC: to bring people together to experience new plays side-by-side with those of our house playwright, to deepen our understanding of ourselves, each other and the world around us, and bring joy. Both these productions are naughty, soulful and entertaining, and we can’t wait to share them with audiences in the capital. Meanwhile, in Stratford, we’re looking forward to continuing our inaugural Stratford season with a host of inspiring artists.”
The announcement coincides with the release of tickets for the Stratford-upon-Avon Autumn/Winter season, which go on public sale from Tuesday 9 July. The six productions include three Shakespeare plays, a world premiere and a major revival, previously announced as part of Harvey and Evans’ inaugural programme including
- The world premiere of David Edgar’s The New Real directed by Holly Race Roughan and presented in association with Headlong, with a cast including Roderick Hill, Patrycja Kujawska, Jodie McNee, Lloyd Owen and Sergo Vares
- A new staging of Hans Christian Anderson’s dark fairytale The Red Shoes, adapted by Nancy Harris and directed by Associate Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival Theatre, Kimberley Rampersad
- Othello directed by Tim Carroll with John Douglas Thompson as Othello with Will Keen as Iago, Juliet Rylance as Desdemona and Anastasia Hille as Emilia
- A festive production of Shakespeare’s bittersweet winter masterpiece: Twelfth Night directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah
- William Shakespeare’s Hamlet; directed by Rupert Goold and featuring Luke Thallon in his RSC debut
- Edward II directed by Daniel Raggett with double Olivier award-winning actor and RSC Co-Artistic Director Daniel Evans in the title role.
The six titles join the Pulitzer Prize Winning production English by Sanaz Toossi playing at the Kiln Theatre until the 6 July, the world premiere of Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy’s Kyoto playing in the Swan Theatre in co-production with Good Chance, a comedy double-bill of The Merry Wives of Windsor and The School for Scandal, playing in repertoire in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre this Summer, and an 80-minute staging of As You Like It running for six weeks in The Holloway Garden Theatre from July. They are joined by Northern Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet, the UK premiere of Uzhhorod Theatre Company’s King Lear and Co-Artistic Director Tamara Harvey’s RSC debut, directing Alfred Enoch in Pericles in the Swan Theatre prior to its transfer to Chicago.
For the Barbican season priority booking for Members and Supporters opens on Tuesday 18 June, with public booking from Tuesday 9 July.
For the Stratford-upon-Avon Autumn/Winter productions priority booking for Members and Supporters opens on Tuesday 18 June, with public booking from Tuesday 9 July. For further information on how to become an RSC Member or Supporter, visit here.
ENDS
For further enquiries, please contact: Kate Evans (Head of Media Relations) 07920 244 434, email: kate.evans@rsc.org.uk
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LISTINGS INFORMATION:
BARBICAN SEASON
THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA
A co-production with Wise Children
Barbican Theatre
Tuesday 22 October – Saturday 16 November
Press Night: Tuesday 29 October at 7pm
Tickets from: £25
The RSC and Wise Children’s ‘intoxicating, five-star’ (Times) production of The Buddha of Suburbia transfers to London’s Barbican from 22 October for a limited 4-week season only.
Director Emma Rice brings her unique and joyful style to Hanif Kureishi’s award-winning 1990 novel, exploring family, friends, sex, theatre and, ultimately, belonging, in a production that will you leave you ‘on a rare high’ (Telegraph).
The full creative team includes; Set Designer: Rachana Jadhav; Costume Designer: Vicki Mortimer; Sound and Video Designer: Simon Baker; Lighting Designer: Jai Morjaria; Composer: Niraj Chag; Choreographer and Intimacy Co-ordinator: Etta Murfitt; Fight Director: Kev McCurdy; and Casting Director: Matthew Dewsbury CDG.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Barbican Theatre
Tuesday 3 December – Saturday 18 January
Press Night: Tuesday 10 December at 7pm
Tickets from: £25
Director Eleanor Rhode returns to the RSC with a ‘joyous’ (Times) Dream that is magical, mischievous and full of wonder.
With Mathew Baynton (Ghosts, Horrible Histories) as Bottom, this hilarious production of Shakespeare’s captivating comedy will transport audiences from deepest midwinter to the most magical of midsummer nights.
The full creative team includes; Set and Costume Designer: Lucy Osborne; Illusion Director and Designer: John Bulleid; Lighting Designer: Matt Daw; Composer: Will Gregory; Sound Designer: Pete Malkin; Movement Director: Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster; Fight and Intimacy Directors: Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown; and Casting Director: Matthew Dewsbury CDG.
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
THE NEW REAL
By David Edgar
Presented in association with Headlong
The Other Place
Thursday 3 October – Saturday 2 November
Press Night: Thursday 10 October at 7pm
Tickets from £25
Set in the 2000s in a faraway country, Rachel, a stellar American political strategist, and Caro, her British data whizz, have been hired to fight a ferocious election, in a place where it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s fake.
They think they’re here to teach the Eastern Europeans how to do democracy, but it turns out they’re here to learn. And when Rachel’s former political partner Larry rocks up on the rival side, their showdown threatens to change global politics, from Warsaw to Wisconsin. Forever.
At a time of epoch-changing elections on both sides of the Atlantic, Holly Race Roughan (Artistic Director of Headlong) directs The New Real, David Edgar’s epic, panoramic play about how the political fault-line was redrawn. Overlapping with The New Real, Edgar’s play about the McCarthy witch hunts of the early 1950s, Here in America, opens on 14 September at the Orange Tree in Richmond.
The creative team includes; Set and Costume Designer: Alex Lowde; Lighting Designer: Joshie Harriette; Sound Designer: Max Perryment; Video Designer: Luke Halls; Dramaturg: Chris Campbell; and Casting Director: Matthew Dewsbury CDG.
The cast includes Edyta Budnik, Ziggy Heath, Roderick Hill, Patrycja Kujawska, Jodie McNee, Lloyd Owen and Sergo Vares with further details to be announced.
OTHELLO
By William Shakespeare
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Friday 11 October – Saturday 23 November
Press Night: Tuesday 22 October at 7pm
Tickets from £10
John Douglas Thompson (Till, Theatre for A New Audience’s The Merchant of Venice) takes the title role opposite Will Keen (Operation Mincemeat, Wolf Hall) as Iago and Juliet Rylance (McMafia, Perry Mason) as Desdemona, in this new production from director Tim Carroll (Artistic Director of Canada’s Shaw Festival and director of the award-winning Twelfth Night and Richard III featuring Mark Rylance at Shakespeare’s Globe, in the West End and on Broadway).
Thew full creative team includes; Set and Costume Designer: Judith Bowden; Lighting Designer: Paule Constable; Composer: James Oxley; Sound Designer: Donato Wharton; Movement Director: Alexis Milligan; Fight Director: Kev McCurdy and Casting Directors: Matthew Dewsbury CDG and Martin Poile CDG.
THE RED SHOES
By Hans Christian Andersen
A New Version by Nancy Harris
Swan Theatre
Thursday 7 November – Sunday 19 January
Press Night: Thursday 14 November at 7pm
Tickets from £15
Playwright Nancy Harris brings Hans Christian Andersen’s dark fairy tale into the 21st century in the intimate surroundings of the Swan Theatre.
With Direction and Movement by Kimberley Rampersad (Associate Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival, Canada) in her RSC debut, The Red Shoes is both a magical story and cautionary tale of pride, vanity and how we all deserve to dance how we wish to dance.
The full creative team includes Set and Costume designer: Colin Richmond; Lighting Designer: Ryan Day; Composer: Marc Teitler; Sound Designer: Gregory Clarke and Casting Director: Charlotte Sutton CDG with further names to be announced.
Age Guidance 7+ years. Parental discretion recommended for under 12s.
Pragnell is the Headline Sponsor of The Red Shoes.
TWELFTH NIGHT
By William Shakespeare
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Thursday 5 December – Saturday 18 January
Press Night: Thursday 12 December at 7pm
Tickets from £10
Prasanna Puwanarajah returns to the RSC to direct Shakespeare’s bittersweet winter masterpiece: a freewheeling miracle of farce, longing, love and life.
The Set and Costume Designer is James Cotterill; Lighting Designer: Zoe Spurr; Sound Designer: George Dennis; Movement Director: Polly Bennett and Casting Director Matthew Dewsbury CDG.
HAMLET
By William Shakespeare
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Saturday 8 February – Saturday 29 March
Press Night: Tuesday 18 February at 7pm
Tickets from £10
Following their hugely successful recent collaborations on Cold War and Patriots, multi award-winner Rupert Goold (Dear England, National Theatre; Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice RSC), directs Luke Thallon as Hamlet in this new production of Shakespeare’s gripping family saga.
The full creative team includes Set Designer: Es Devlin; Costume Designer: Evie Gurney; Lighting Designer: Jack Knowles and Casting Director Charlotte Sutton CDG with further names to be announced.
EDWARD II
By Christopher Marlowe
Swan Theatre
Friday 21 February – Saturday 5 April
Press Night: Wednesday 5 March at 7pm
Tickets from £15
Double Olivier Award-winner and RSC Co-Artistic Director Daniel Evans returns to the stage in Daniel Raggett’s production of Marlowe’s violent and tender play.
Joining Daniel Raggett on the creative team are Set and Costume Designer: Leslie Travers; Lighting Designer: Tim Lutkin and Sound Designer: Tingying Dong with further names to be announced.
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
By William Shakespeare
A Next Generation Act production
The Holloway Garden Theatre
Thursday 22 – Saturday 24 August
Tickets from: £5
A fresh air approach to Shakespeare’s early romantic comedy created and performed by the RSC Next Generation Act Young Company, made up of 24 young people aged 13-18 from across England.
Directed by Paul Ainsworth with Set and Costume Design by Reiltin Hart and Music by Rosie Bergonzi. Supported by behind-the-scenes creatives drawn from our Next Generation Direct and Backstage programmes.
BOOKING INFORMATION
Ticket Discounts:
Discounts are available for Over 65s, Disabled People and Carers, Families, UK School and College Groups and Groups of 10 or more. £10 Tickets are available for 14-25 year olds and full-time students, supported by global entertainment platform TikTok. Terms and conditions apply.
See the website rsc.org.uk or call the Box Office on 01789 331111 for more details and to buy tickets.
Assisted Performances:
The RSC offers a range of assisted performances on selected dates throughout the year. A list of upcoming dates and booking detail is available HERE.
NOTES TO EDITORS
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
With thanks to Season Supporters Backstage Trust and Miranda Curtis CMG
The Holloway Garden Theatre is generously supported by Charles Holloway
Pragnell is the Headline Sponsor of The Red Shoes
Othello is supported by RSC Production Circle member Peggy Czyzak-Dannenbaum
Darwin Escapes is the Headline Sponsor of Pericles
Pericles is supported by RSC Production Circle member Kathleen J. Yoh
RSC £10 Tickets for 14-25s supported by TikTok
The RSC Acting Companies are generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
New Work at the RSC is generously supported by Hawthornden Foundation and The Drue and H.J. Heinz II Charitable Trust
The work of the RSC Creative, Learning and Engagement department is generously supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Clore Duffield Foundation, Foyle Foundation, GRoW @ Annenberg, The Polonsky Foundation, The Mackintosh Foundation, The Thompson Family Charitable Trust, Halabi Thomaz Foundation, Stratford Town Trust, LSEG Foundation, The Goldsmiths’ Company Charity, John S Cohen Foundation, HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust, Teale Charitable Trust, The Grimmitt Trust, Sir James Knott Trust, The Oakley Charitable Trust, Misses Barrie Charitable Trust, and The Wyfold Charitable Trust
Assisted Performances at the RSC are kindly supported by The Saintbury Trust and The Boshier-Hinton Foundation
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) creates exceptional theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, London and around the world, performing plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as commissioning a wide range of original work from contemporary writers. Our purpose is to ensure that Shakespeare – and theatre as a whole – is for everyone, and we do that by unlocking the power of his plays and live performance, and with our learning and education work throughout the UK and across the world.
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
Pragnell is a British family run jeweller, with a rich and royal heritage spanning over 170 years. As one the UK’s last full-service jewellers, all Pragnell fine jewellery is handcrafted in British workshops by our highly trained craftspeople, using gemstones of exceptional beauty and quality. Pragnell’s three showrooms are located Stratford-Upon-Avon, Mayfair and Leicester.
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and its offices include New York, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.
Darwin Escapes currently operates 26-holiday resorts and three golf courses across the UK offering holiday breaks, holiday home ownership and golf breaks. Conveniently placed Warwickshire based Stratford-upon-Avon Lodge Retreat, is located only two-miles away from the centre of the city and is perfect for theatre trips, along with exploring the local area. You'll enjoy a peaceful countryside location, with luxurious self-catering accommodation, while still being able to enjoy both the culture and city.
Newly opened in Summer 2023, Blenheim Palace Lodge Retreat, is a perfect gateway to the Oxfordshire countryside. Offering you a completely unique experience, of one, two and three-bedroom wonderful lodges, located within the beautiful 12,000-acre Blenheim Estate, with Blenheim Palace only a 20-minute walk away or 5 minute drive away.
Darwin Escapes offers a wide range of holiday accommodation at its holiday resorts, ranging from romantic boutique escapes to luxury lodge retreats and traditional family-focused holiday parks. All locations boast state-of-the-art and diverse accommodation with some offering on-site facilities including spas, gyms, restaurants, and activities.
For further information about Darwin Escapes and its numerous golf and holiday destinations and facilities visit www.darwinescapes.co.uk or follow them on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook: @DarwinEscapes
About the Barbican The Barbican is a catalyst for creativity, sparking possibilities for artists, audiences, and communities. We showcase the most exciting art from around the world, pushing traditional artistic boundaries to entertain and inspire millions of people, create connections, provoke debate, and reflect the world we live in.
We are an international arts and events centre rooted firmly in our own neighbourhood, collaborating with local communities and putting the City of London on the map as a destination for everybody. Central to our purpose is supporting emerging talent and shaping opportunities that will accelerate the next generation of creatives.
As a not-for-profit, we rely on the generosity of individuals and organisations, including our principal funder the City of London Corporation. Every ticket purchased, donation made, and pound earned supports our arts and learning programme and enables the widest possible range of people to experience the joy of the arts.
Opened in 1982, the Barbican is a unique and audacious building, recognised globally as an architectural icon. As well as our theatres, galleries, concert halls and cinemas, we have a large conservatory with over 1,500 species of plants and trees, a library, conference facilities, public and community spaces, restaurants, bars, and a picturesque lakeside oasis.
We’re proud to be the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, and a London base of the Royal Shakespeare Company. We regularly co-commission, produce and showcase the work of our other associates and partners including the Academy of Ancient Music, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Boy Blue, Britten Sinfonia, Cheek by Jowl, Darbar Festival, Doc'n Roll Film Festival, Drum Works, EFG London Jazz Festival, London Palestine Film Festival, Serious, and Trafalgar Entertainment.
For more information, visit our website or connect with us on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify | LinkedIn
Wise Children Created and led by Emma Rice, Wise Children launched in April 2018 and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. Based in the South West, we make ground-breaking work with exceptional artists, and tour across the world. Alongside our shows, we run a unique professional development programme, The School for Wise Children, training a new and more diverse generation of theatre practitioners. We recently bought a building, The Lucky Chance, in Frome, Somerset which we plan to use as our creation space, a home for the School and a tiny theatre in which to welcome audiences of all shapes and sizes.
https://www.wisechildrendigital.com/
Instagram: @Wise_Children
Facebook: @WiseChildrenCompany
Headlong We’re Headlong. We make theatre with the power to move. Big, exhilarating productions that use the unexpected to connect everyone we reach, right across the nation. Whether a work is old or new, there are always different questions we can ask. So our productions are an invitation: to come and see something in a new way. Join us.
Previous Headlong productions include A View From the Bridge, Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon Play, A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction, Henry V, Jitney, Best of Enemies, People, Places & Things and Enron, and major digital theatre innovations Signal Fires and Unprecedented.
Artistic Director - Holly Race Roughan, Executive Director - Lisa Maguire
