RSC SPRING/SUMMER UPDATE: GERALDINE JAMES TO PLAY ROSALIND IN AS YOU LIKE IT

Issued: 23 March 2023

• GERALDINE JAMES MAKES RSC DEBUT TO PLAY ROSALIND IN OMAR ELERIAN’S RSC PRODUCTION OF AS YOU LIKE IT

• LIVE AT THE RSC: MUSIC AND COMEDY FESTIVAL RETURNS BETWEEN 31 MAY – 4 JUNE

• SUSIE’S CAFÉ BAR AT THE OTHER PLACE RE-OPENS ON WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL

• THE PLAY’S THE THING RE-OPENS ON SATURDAY 22 APRIL

DOWNLOAD IMAGES OF GERALDINE JAMES, OMAR ELERIAN, LIVE AT THE RSC, THE OTHER PLACE AND THE PLAY’S THE THING HERE

GERALDINE JAMES TO PLAY ROSALIND IN AS YOU LIKE IT

Geraldine James makes her RSC debut to play Rosalind in director Omar Elerian’s new production of As You Like It which runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon between 17 June – 5 August. 

In Elerian’s playful and provocative new take on the play, a company of veteran actors - many of whom are likely to have a long and close association with the RSC - will come together to perform one of Shakespeare’s most joyous tales. On a stage transformed into a simple rehearsal room, the actors will gather to conjure the memory of a long gone show, celebrating the magic of theatre and its unique power to make our imagination soar. The extraordinary cast will play every role in this ode to young love, old age, and theatre itself.

Geraldine’s most recent credits include The Beast Must Die (Britbox), Back to Life (BBC1/Showtime) and Anne with an E (Netflix), for which she won the 2019 Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series. Geraldine will next be seen in the television series Silo (Apple TV) and Steven Knight’s This Town (BBC).

Geraldine’s extensive film credits include 45 Years, Benediction, Beast, Daphne (for which she was nominated for an Evening Standard British Film Award), Downton Abbey, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Made in Dagenham, Calendar Girls, Gandhi and Sir Peter Hall’s She’s Been Away, for which she won the Coppa Volpi Award for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival.

She has been BAFTA-nominated four times for her television performances, in Dummy (for which she also won a Critics’ Association Award for Best Actress), The Jewel in The Crown, Band of Gold and Sins.  Other TV credits include Utopia, The Five, Black Work, Legacy, 13 Steps Down, Little Britain and Blott on the Landscape.

Geraldine won a Drama Desk Award, and was nominated for a Tony Award, for her performance as Portia in The Merchant of Venice, opposite Dustin Hoffman, and she also starred on Broadway as Gertrude in Michael Grandage’s production of Hamlet, with Jude Law. Her other UK theatre credits include Lawrence After Arabia (Hampstead Theatre), 13 (National Theatre), The Seagull (Arcola Theatre), Victory (Arcola Theatre), The UN Inspector (National Theatre), and Sir Peter Hall’s productions of Lysistrata (Old Vic and West End) and Cymbeline (National Theatre).

Omar Elerian is Olivier award-nominated director, writer and dramaturg. As You Like It will be his first production for the RSC. A graduate of the Lecoq International Theatre School, Paris, Omar was the resident Associate Director at the Bush Theatre from 2012-2019, where he commissioned and directed some of the theatre’s most successful shows. As a sole director for the Bush Theatre, his credits include smash-hit Misty by Arinzé Kene (Bush, West End), NASSIM by Nassim Soleimanpour (Bush Theatre, Traverse Theatre and a world tour), Going Through by Estelle Savasta and Islands by Caroline Horton.

In 2022, Omar translated and directed the Olivier Award-winning Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni, co-founders of pioneering theatre company Complicité, in a new revival of Eugène Ionesco’s tragic farce; The Chairs (Almeida), a show described by The Guardian as “a gloriously fizzy cocktail of slapstick, physical theatre and silliness”.

Talking about the production, Omar said: “I am really excited about starting rehearsals on this intriguing project, which will explore our relation to love, freedom, and the passing of time. I adore working with actors, so to be able to draw on the talent, craft and experience of such exquisite performers such as Geraldine James is a true privilege.”

Press night: Tuesday 27 June, 7pm.

Joining Omar on the creative team are Ana Inés Jabares Pita (Designer), Jackie Shemesh (Lighting) and Elena Peña (Sound). Full casting will be announced in late April/early May.

LIVE AT THE RSC: 5 DAYS OF MUSIC AND COMEDY IN THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE, WEDNESDAY 31 MAY – SUNDAY 4 JUNE

Live at the RSC returns to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre between Wednesday 31 May and Sunday 4 June with a festival of live music and comedy, in association with Orchestra of the Swan and Underbelly.

The programme opens with a unique performance by Orchestra of the Swan who present Red Sky at Sunrise: Laurie Lee in Words & Music. Red Sky at Sunrise follows Lee's extraordinary journey through his much-loved trilogy, Cider with Rosie, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, and A Moment of War, from growing up in Gloucestershire, to fighting with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Laurie Lee is performed by Anton Lesser and Charlie Hamblett, with music from Orchestra of The Swan, featuring Mark Ashford on guitar.

Anton Lesser is an RSC Associate Artist, and his extensive credits for the Company include The Winter’s Tale, Cymbeline and The Taming of the Shrew.  On screen his credits include Wolf Hall, Andor, Game of Thrones, Endeavour and The Crown.  Charlie Hamblett began his career on stage in the RSC’s The Histories Cycle, directed by Michael Boyd.  Charlie’s West End credits include The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and The Tempest. On screen, his credits include Killing Eve, The Secret Agent and Around The World in 80 Days.

Between Thursday 1 and Sunday 4 June comedy comes to the fore, with the festival featuring appearances from British Comedy award-winning ventriloquist Nina Conti, award-winning comedian Mark Watson plus, direct from the West End, improvised comedy show, Austentatious inspired by the novels of Jane Austen. 

The festival includes solo shows and mixed bill shows with performances from BBC New Comedy award-finalist Fern Brady, Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominee and star of Mock The Week, Live at The Apollo and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Jess Fostekew, Ivo Graham (the youngest ever winner of the prestigious So You Think You’re Funny award for new acts at the Edinburgh Fringe) and award-winning stand-up comedian Sarah Keyworth (Are You A Boy or A Girl, BBC Radio 4, Dark House, Amazon Prime) with further acts to be announced. 

Tickets for the festival go on sale on Tuesday 11 April at 10am with further programming to be announced shortly. 

SUSIE’S CAFÉ BAR AT THE OTHER PLACE RE-OPENS WEDNESDAY 5 APRIL

Susie’s Café Bar, located in the foyer of The Other Place on Southern Lane in Stratford-upon-Avon, will re-open on Wednesday 5 April.  Offering a new deli style menu from the counter, including sandwiches, cakes and a selection of hot and cold drinks, beer and wine, Susie’s cosy ambience makes it the perfect place for a catch-up with friends.

Susie’s will be open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 10am-6pm, and Thursdays and Saturdays between 10am-9pm. Closed Sundays and Mondays.

This will be the first time since the pandemic that Susie’s will have opened to the public on a regular basis.  Over the last three months the foyer of The Other Place has been open to everyone on Tuesday afternoons as a Warm Hub, and the building previously acted as a Covid testing centre.  The RSC’s Costume Hire service and rehearsals have continued in the space during its closure.

THE RSC’S PERMANENT EXHIBITION, THE PLAY’S THE THING, RE-OPENS ON SATURDAY 22 APRIL

On Saturday 22 April, just in time for Shakespeare’s Birthday, the RSC will also reopen The Play’s The Thing in its Stratford-upon-Avon home.  Made up of items including costumes and props from the RSC’s vast Collection, this is a permanent exhibition offering unique insights into the history of theatre-making in Stratford-upon-Avon since 1879.

As part of the re-opening the RSC has co-curated the display with a number of Stratford-based community organisations, including Welcome Here!, Goodwill and Growth for Africa (GAGA) Yarnbombers, and second-year fashion students at Stratford-upon-Avon College, made possible by ArtFund support, the national charity for art. The groups have shaped the exhibition by choosing which items they would like to see in it.

The Play’s The Thing is located in the Swan Theatre end of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s buildings. Entrance will be free, and the exhibition will be open from 12noon daily, closing at 7.15pm (5pm on Sundays). No advance booking required.

Started by Charles Edward Flower in 1879, the RSC Collection is one of the most significant Shakespeare and theatre collections in the world. The Collection material spans from the 1600s to the present day and offers an insight into the history of performance, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

ENDS

For more information please contact:
Dean Asker, Senior Media Relations Office
dean.asker@rsc.org.uk, 0778 9937759

NOTES TO EDITORS

RSC BOX OFFICE: 01789 331111 rsc.org.uk

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

As You Like It is sponsored by Darwin Escapes

As You Like It is supported by Season Supporter Charles Holloway

The RSC Acting Companies are generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation

The redevelopment of the Swan Wing and The Play’s The Thing exhibition was generously supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Tubney Charitable Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, DCMS/Wolfson Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund, The Wolfson Foundation and others.

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 our 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. 

We recognise the climate emergency and work hard to embed environmental sustainability into our operations, creative work and business practice, making a commitment to continually reduce our carbon footprint.

Keep Your RSC supports our mission to create theatre at its best, unlocking Shakespeare and transforming lives. Thousands of generous audience members, trusts and foundations and partners supported Keep Your RSC since 2020, alongside a £19.4 million loan from the Culture Recovery Fund, we are thrilled to be welcoming audiences back. It will take time to recover, to reopen all our theatres, and many years to repay the loan and the support and generosity of our audiences is more important than ever. Please donate at rsc.org.uk/donate

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

Darwin Escapes

Darwin Escapes currently operates 26-holiday resorts and three golf courses across the UK offering holiday breaks, holiday home ownership and golf breaks. One of the newest retreats, 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 theatre and city.

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.

The company strives to raise the standards of the UK holiday park industry and to ultimately provide the best possible holiday experience for holidaymakers and holiday homeowners by creating brand new resorts in stunning UK locations with accommodation and facilities that rival those of 5-star hotels.

New location coming soon, Blenheim Palace Lodge Retreat. The unique project, will be the first venue of its kind and will see a collection of one, two and three-bedroom lodges built on the grounds of the historic Blenheim Palace Estate, as well as being a gateway to the Oxfordshire countryside.

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