TITLE COMPANY LOCATION DATES PAGE VENUEs3.amazonaws.com/rscmedia03/multimedia/downloads/...brochure.pdf · A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (AS YOU LIKE IT) ... international of artists

TITLE COMPANY LOCATION DATES PAGE VENUEPRODUCTIONS 2007: MACBETH TR WARSZAWA EDINBURGH 10 AUGUST -

2 SEPTEMBER 27 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 16 MARCH - 14 MAY 16 JULY - 6 OCTOBER

4 ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE

LONDON 1 JUNE - 4 JULY 18 ROUNDHOUSE

CORIOLAN/US NATIONAL THEATRE WALES BRIDGEND AUGUST 26 DRAGON FILM STUDIOS

CYMBELINE NINAGAWA COMPANY / BARBICAN LONDON 29 MAY - 2 JUNE 16 BARBICAN THEATRETHE DARK SIDE OF LOVE ROUNDHOUSE COMPANY / LIFT LONDON 25 JUNE - 8 JULY 19 ROUNDHOUSEDESDEMONA BARBICAN LONDON JULY 16 BARBICAN HALL

FORESTS BIRMINGHAM REPERTORY THEATRE / BARCELONA INTERNACIONAL TEATRE

BIRMINGHAM 31 AUGUST -15 SEPTEMBER

25 OLD REP THEATRE

GLOBE TO GLOBE SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE LONDON 23 APRIL - 3 JUNE 14 & 15 SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBEI, CINNA (THE POET) ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 13 JUNE - 6 JULY 10 SWAN THEATREIN A PICKLE OILY CART /

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANYSTRATFORD-UPON-AVON 23 MAY - 17 JUNE 10 SWAN ROOMLONDON 19 - 23 JUNE 17 STRATFORD CIRCUSNEWCASTLE / GATESHEAD 27 - 30 JUNE 25 NORTHERN STAGE

JULIUS CAESAR ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 28 MAY - 7 JULY 9 ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRENEWCASTLE / GATESHEAD 19 - 28 JULY 25 NEWCASTLE THEATRE ROYAL

KING JOHN ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 6 APRIL - 15 SEPTEMBER 7 SWAN THEATRE

KING LEAR ALMEIDA THEATRE LONDON 31 AUGUST -3 NOVEMBER

21 ALMEIDA THEATRE

MACBETH: LEÏLA AND BEN - A BLOODY HISTORY

ARTISTES, PRODUCTEURS, ASSOCIÉS LONDON 4 - 7 JULY 21 LIFT AT RIVERSIDE STUDIOSNEWCASTLE / GATESHEAD 12 - 14 JULY 24 NORTHERN STAGE

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM(AS YOU LIKE IT)

CHEKHOV INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL / DMITRY KRYMOV’S LABORATORY / SCHOOL OF DRAMATIC ART THEATRE

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 10 - 18 AUGUST 12 ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATREEDINBURGH 10 AUGUST -

2 SEPTEMBER 27 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 26 JULY - 15 SEPTEMBER 11 THE COURTYARD THEATREOPEN STAGES ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 13 - 22 JULY 28 STRATFORD-UPON-AVONPERICLES ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY LONDON 5 & 19 ROUNDHOUSE

PILOT NIGHT PILOT / ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 12 JULY 13 THE COURTYARD THEATRE

THE REST IS SILENCE dreamthinkspeak BRIGHTON 5 - 27 MAY 26 BRIGHTON FESTIVALLONDON 12 - 23 JUNE 20 LIFT AT RIVERSIDE STUDIOSNEWCASTLE / GATESHEAD 26 - 30 JUNE 24 NORTHERN STAGE

RICHARD III ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 22 MARCH -15 SEPTEMBER

6 SWAN THEATRE

ROMEO AND JULIET IN BAGHDAD IRAQI THEATRE COMPANY STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 26 APRIL - 5 MAY 8 SWAN THEATRELONDON 28 - 30 JUNE 20 LIFT AT RIVERSIDE STUDIOS

A SOLDIER IN EVERY SON – AN AZTEC TRILOGY

NATIONAL THEATRE OF MEXICO / ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 29 JUNE - 28 JULY 7 SWAN THEATRE

THE TEMPEST ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 30 MARCH - 19 MAY13 JULY – 7 OCTOBER


LONDON 9 JUNE - 5 JULY 19 ROUNDHOUSEA TENDER THING ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 27 SEPTEMBER -

20 OCTOBER13 SWAN THEATRE

TIMON OF ATHENS NATIONAL THEATRE LONDON FROM JULY 17 OLIVIER THEATRE

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA THE WOOSTER GROUP /ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 3 - 18 AUGUST 12 SWAN THEATRE

TWELFTH NIGHT ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 8 MARCH - 15 MAY12 JULY - 6 OCTOBER


LONDON 5 JUNE - 5 JULY 18 ROUNDHOUSETWO ROSES FOR RICHARD III COMPANHIA BUFOMECÂNICA /

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANYSTRATFORD-UPON-AVON 7 - 12 MAY 8 THE COURTYARD THEATRELONDON 18 - 23 MAY 18 ROUNDHOUSE

WEST SIDE STORY SAGE GATESHEAD /ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY’S OPEN STAGES

NEWCASTLE / GATESHEAD 4 - 7 JULY 24 THE SAGE GATESHEAD

EXHIBITIONS LIVING WALLS SQUIDSOUP STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 21 APRIL - 9 SEPTEMBER 13 ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRESHAKESPEARE: STAGING THE WORLD BRITISH MUSEUM LONDON 19 JULY - 25 NOVEMBER 22 BRITISH MUSEUMTHE STORIES OF SHAKESPEARE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY /

THE SHAKESPEARE BIRTHPLACE TRUST

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 21 APRIL - 31 DECEMBER 13 ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE /SHAKESPEARE BIRTHPLACE TRUST PROPERTIES

CONFERENCES WORLDS TOGETHER TATE MODERN / BRITISH MUSEUM / NATIONAL THEATRE /ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

LONDON 6 - 8 SEPTEMBER 23 CLORE LEARNING CENTRE, TATE MODERN

ONLINE MY SHAKESPEARE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY ONLINE 2012 29 WORLDSHAKESPEAREFESTIVAL.ORG.UKBOOKING INFORMATION 31

= Exact dates to be announced. Please see www.worldshakespearefestival.org.uk or individual venue websites for more information.Key

The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is the largest cultural

celebration in the history of the modern Olympic and

Paralympic Movements. The culmination of the Cultural

Olympiad will be the London 2012 Festival. We are delighted

to have the World Shakespeare Festival as part of it; we

thank the Olympic Lottery Distributor and Arts Council

England as principal funders and welcome BP, already a

Premier Partner of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012

Festival, as the Founding Presenting Partner.

The World Shakespeare Festival is a celebration of

Shakespeare as the world’s playwright, produced by the

Royal Shakespeare Company in an unprecedented

collaboration with leading UK and international arts

organisations and with Globe to Globe, a major international

programme produced by Shakespeare’s Globe.

Ruth Mackenzie

Director of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival

Shakespeare is no longer English property. He is the

favourite playwright and artist of the whole world,

and studied at school by half the world’s children.

People of all races, creeds and continents have chosen to

gather around his work to share stories of what it is like to

be human. To fall in love or fall from grace. To be subject to

the abuse of power or to live with the dreams of angels in the

shadow of our own mortality.

The World Shakespeare Festival celebrates this most

international of artists at a time when the eyes of the world

are on London, that most international of cities, and on the

whole of the UK for the Olympic Games.

From Shakespeare’s birthday, April 23rd 2012, we’ve invited

some of the world’s leading artists and theatre-makers to

create new productions and responses to Shakespeare,

which will play until Autumn in the Royal Shakespeare

Company’s three theatres in Stratford-upon-Avon, across

London in partnership with ten major theatres, LIFT and the

British Museum and in Newcastle, Gateshead, Wales,

Birmingham, at the Edinburgh International Festival,

Brighton Festival and on the BBC.

These artists, home-grown and from abroad, will push the

boundaries of performance, and refl ect the cultural shifting

of our contemporary world, through Shakespeare’s plays

that speak across geographies and generations.

The RSC is contributing a dozen new productions of its own.

Some refl ect the rich mix of cultures within British society;

some are co-productions with international companies and

some explore non-theatre spaces and new journeys for our

audiences.

With Open Stages we celebrate the UK’s great

amateur performance tradition like never before.

With My Shakespeare we invite everyone in the world to

contribute their visions of Shakespeare online. With our

International Education Conference we explore how

Shakespeare is being taught to half the children in the world.

Wherever you come from, and whatever language you speak,

we welcome you to this great Shakespeare celebration.

Deborah Shaw, World Shakespeare Festival Director

Michael Boyd, Artistic Director, Royal Shakespeare Company

Over the last 400 years, Shakespeare’s plays have travelled

far and wide. On their travels they have midwifed new theatre

cultures, spread light and laughter, and helped nations,

new and old, to defi ne themselves. Wherever they have gone,

they have dug deep into the local soil, and have reshaped the

air around them.

In this unique event of unprecedented ambition,

Globe to Globe will perform all of Shakespeare’s plays,

each in a different language, each from a different

international company.

Every day for six weeks, national theatres,

renowned artists and new young companies

will celebrate performing Shakespeare in

their own language, within the architecture

Shakespeare wrote for. The Globe is

delighted to be bringing Shakespeare,

dressed in the clothes of many nations,

back home to Bankside.

Dominic Dromgoole, Artistic Director

Shakespeare’s Globe

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EDUCATION EVENTS

Three plays. One company. One environment. One world

of shipwreck, grief, laughter, love and reunion.

The Royal Shakespeare Company presents a unique

trilogy to celebrate the World Shakespeare Festival.

Led by RSC Associate Director David Farr, one ensemble

company of RSC actors will stage a major cycle of plays,

What Country Friends Is This?, exploring migration, exile,

shipwreck and the discovery of brave new worlds. The three

plays date from the early, middle and late periods of

Shakespeare’s work as he returned throughout his life to

further explore these themes. While each production can be

enjoyed on its own, seen together they are an epic trilogy by the

world’s greatest dramatist exploring issues that are as

relevant today as they were 400 years ago. The company

includes Jonathan Slinger as Malvolio and Prospero,

having recently played Macbeth in the fi rst production

in the transformed Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

As this body of work moves to London, it will be joined

by a site-specifi c production of Pericles. Directed by RSC

Artistic Director Michael Boyd and designed by Tom Piper,

this innovative promenade production of Shakespeare’s

tale of journeying and discovery is presented in a bold staging

at the Roundhouse, London.

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WHAT COUNTRY FRIENDS IS THIS?A Sixth Form Conference for A level and BTEC English and Theatre Studies Students

The Comedy of Errors,Twelfth Night and The Tempest are all inspired by themes of migration,

displacement and exile. This conference will explore these themes in relation to the plays,

their characters and the situations they fi nd themselves in.

Dates in April and September in Stratford-upon-Avon

worldshakespearefestival.org.uk

FESTIVAL EVENTS

Visit the festival website

worldshakespearefestival.org.uk to get involved in an event,

fi nd out how the productions

were made at a creative team

talk or join a workshop for

students and teachers.

BOOK TICKETS www.rsc.org.uk | 0844 800 1110

16 MARCH - 14 MAY 2012

& 16 JULY - 6 OCTOBER 2012

Shakespeare’s joyful comedy of mistaken identity follows the

fortunes of two sets of identical twins, accidentally separated at

birth, then miraculously thrown together again. In a town the

size of Ephesus, events like these can only lead to confusion.

The Comedy of Errors is directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi. Founder

of the Palestinian theatre company ShiberHur, his productions

for them include In The Penal Colony (Young Vic) and I Am Yusuf and This Is My Brother (Young Vic), which he wrote and directed.

Director: Amir Nizar Zuabi

Designer: Jon Bausor

Lighting: Jon Clark

Sound: Christopher Shutt

by William Shakespeare

A ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY PRODUCTION

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE

8 MARCH - 15 MAY 2012


Shipwrecked on the shores of a strange land, Viola believes

her twin brother Sebastian drowned. Disguising herself as

a boy to work in the court of Count Orsino, she fi nds herself

a go-between for the man she serves and the woman who

refuses to love him.

David Farr directs both Twelfth Night and The Tempest. David is

a playwright, screenwriter and stage director, whose plays have

been performed all over the world. In recent years he has

moved into fi lm and television and recently co-wrote the fi lm

Hanna. Formerly Artistic Director of London’s Lyric Theatre and

Bristol Old Vic, he is now an Associate Director of the RSC.

Director: David Farr


Lighting: Jon Clark


Music: Adem Ilhan




LONDON PERFORMANCESThe Comedy of Errors,Twelfth Night and The Tempest also play in London.

Roundhouse

1 June – 5 July 2012

See pages 18 & 19.

DON’T MISS EVENTS

POST-SHOW TALKBACKSStay on after the show and put your questions about the

production to members of the acting company.

The Tempest, Tue 24 July

Twelfth Night, Wed 1 Aug

The Comedy of Errors, Tue 4 Sept

Stratford-upon-Avon, FREE


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Tickets from £12 - £50 on public sale from 10 October 2011

30 MARCH - 19 MAY 2012


Prospero is usurped from his position as Duke of Milan and cast

away with his daughter to a remote island. Twelve years later,

and intent on revenge, he raises a magical tempest that

shipwrecks his enemies on his shores. What begins as a search

for retribution develops into a journey of acceptance and

compassion in Shakespeare’s fi nal play.

Director: David Farr


Lighting: Jon Clark


Music: Adem Ilhan




A site-specifi c production directed by RSC Artistic Director

Michael Boyd, which sees Shakespeare’s tale of journeying and

fulfi lment recreated in promenade at the Roundhouse, London.

Tickets for Pericles on public sale from January 2012.

Director: Michael Boyd

Designer: Tom Piper



ROUNDHOUSE

22 MARCH - 15 SEPTEMBER 2012

Power-hungry Richard, Duke of Gloucester, plots, manipulates

and murders his way to the throne in Shakespeare’s brilliant

exposé of this infamous monarch.

Roxana Silbert directs a company of actors, who will also

perform A Soldier In Every Son – An Aztec Trilogy. Formerly

Artistic Director of Paines Plough Theatre Company, she is

Artistic Director (Designate) of Birmingham Repertory Theatre

and an Associate Director of the RSC.

Director: Roxana Silbert

Designer: Ti Green


The Royal Shakespeare Company presents a season

of work in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon,

exploring the struggle for absolute power and the right

to lead a nation. Led by RSC Associate Director

Roxana Silbert, one company of RSC actors will perform

two of Shakespeare’s thrilling explorations of civil war

before presenting a new play by one of Mexico’s leading

playwrights in collaboration with the National Theatre

of Mexico. Underlining Shakespeare’s ability to speak

to the world at large, A Soldier In Every Son – An Aztec Trilogy

is directly inspired by these two Shakespeare plays and

charts the story of the foundation of one of the most

famous civilisations in the world.

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HATH BRITAIN ALL THE SUN THAT SHINES?A conference for GCSE English or Drama students exploring

Britishness in the words of Shakespeare and contemporary UK artists.

A packed day of practical workshops, seminars and performance

featuring Cicely Berry and British-Iraqi Hip-Hop artist Lowkey.

Mon 9 July, 10.30am - 5pm, Stratford-upon-Avon

Tickets: £325 (£305) per class (up to 30 students)


EDUCATION EVENTS



SWAN THEATRE

WIKI SHAKESPEARE: A WORLDWIDE CLASSROOMFind out where, how and why Shakespeare is taught in

classrooms around the world and add your own knowledge

and experiences as a teacher or as a student.

worldshakespearefestival.org.uk/wiki

DON’T MISS

6 APRIL - 15 SEPTEMBER 2012

King John’s claim to the throne is challenged by France, which

threatens war unless he steps aside in favour of his nephew,

Arthur. A bitter, political struggle ensues as a weakened king

clings to power, no matter what the cost.

Maria Aberg has worked regularly in the UK, Sweden and

Germany. In the UK she has directed for the Royal Court,

RSC, Soho Theatre and Southwark Playhouse. Her recent RSC

productions include Days of Signifi cance (Swan Theatre/Tricycle

Theatre/UK Tour 2009) and The Gods Weep by Dennis Kelly

(Hampstead Theatre 2010).

Director: Maria Aberg

Designer: Naomi Dawson


EVENTS

THE DIRECTOR TALKSJoin Roxana Silbert to ask

how she approached

directing A Soldier In Every Son – An Aztec Trilogy.Fri 6 July

Stratford-upon-Avon, £5


YOUNG COMPANY PRESENT HENRY VA 60 minute production from the RSC’s young collective

exploring the nature of patriotism and the fate of young

soldiers. With a creative team including British-Iraqi rapper

Lowkey and Cicely Berry.

Tue 24 July, 4.30pm, Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

Tickets: £3


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SWAN THEATRE

29 JUNE - 28 JULY 2012

Late 14th century in the Valley of Mexico and a small,

unknown tribe called the Aztecs propel themselves

from nomadic mercenaries to rulers of a great empire.

Passion, power and intrigue play out in this epic political

thriller which charts the history of an ancient civilisation.

Spanning a century and based on true events chronicled in

the Aztec codices, A Soldier In Every Son - An Aztec Trilogy,

unfolds in three parts, closely inspired by Shakespeare’s history

plays. Commissioned for the World Shakespeare Festival.

Director: Roxana Silbert

Set Designer: Jorge Ballina

by Luis Mario Moncada

A NATIONAL THEATRE OF MEXICO /

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY CO-PRODUCTION

SWAN THEATRE

7 - 12 MAY 2012

From Brazil, Companhia BufoMecânica brings a breathtaking

production, combining Shakespeare’s text with circus,

multimedia, visual metaphor and aerial choreography.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s history plays, the bloody events

of the War of the Roses are vividly re-imagined in a glorious

black carnival of villainy, corruption and seduction.

Two Roses for Richard III begins in promenade and moves into

The Courtyard Theatre from outside the Royal Shakespeare

Theatre.

This production reunites two of Brazil’s leading directors,

Claúdio Baltar (circus companies: Intrepida, Archaos) and

Fábio Ferreira, known for his text-based theatre and multimedia

work. Commissioned for the World Shakespeare Festival.

In Portuguese with English surtitles.

Directors: Claúdio Baltar and Fábio Ferreira

Set Designer: Brigida Baltar

Lighting: Renato Machado

Costume Designer: Rosa Magalhães

26 APRIL - 5 MAY 2012

Baghdad’s Iraqi Theatre Company create a version of

Romeo and Juliet for a new generation, infused with

Iraq’s rich traditions of poetry, music and ritual.

Shakespeare’s great love story is set against a backdrop of

confl ict between families, communities and generations.

This iconic play fi nds fresh purchase in the soil of contemporary

Iraq, a country where sectarian strife between Sunni and Shia,

ignited and fuelled from outside, has left the population

exhausted by a cycle of violence and revenge. Commissioned for

the World Shakespeare Festival.

In Arabic with English surtitles.

Director: Monadhil Daood

Designer: Jabbarjodi Alabodi

Translation: Raad Mushatat


LONDON PERFORMANCESTwo Roses for Richard III also plays in London at the

Roundhouse from 18 - 23 May

See page 18.

Romeo and Juliet plays at LIFT

at Riverside Studios from

28 - 30 June. See page 20.

DON’T MISS

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THE COURTYARD THEATRE

A COMPANHIA BUFOMECÂNICA PRODUCTION

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

THE HOUSE OF FAIRY TALES GUIDE TO THE RSCThroughout Summer 2012, acclaimed community arts charity

The House of Fairy Tales will be creating an imaginative and

exciting trail in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The guide will take

the audience on a journey through the life of Shakespeare and

his plays to help solve the mystery of the missing manuscript.

The Guide will be launched with a live art weekend of action and

intrigue. worldshakespearefestival.org.uk

DON’T MISS


Adapted by Monadhil Daood

AN IRAQI THEATRE COMPANY PRODUCTION

SWAN THEATRE


Two Roses for Richard III will have

an Unwrapped Event on Sat 12 May

at 10.30am. Join members of the

creative team and acting company as

they demonstrate the play’s journey

from page to stage.

Stratford-upon-Avon, £5


EVENTS

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JULIUS CAESAR – A PASSAGE TO AFRICAA conference for undergraduates exploring Shakespeare’s

inspiration for writing Julius Caesar. The day includes speakers on

the life and times of Shakespeare and Julius Caesar, workshops

with the creative team and practical drama sessions exploring

how the production has been inspired by modern day Africa.

Thu 7 June, 10.30am - 5pm, Stratford-upon-Avon, £35 (£25)


EDUCATION EVENTS

28 MAY - 7 JULY 2012

‘How many timesShall this our lofty scene be acted o’erIn states unborn and accents yet unknown’

The dictator must be assassinated. But who will replace him?

Shakespeare’s great political thriller fi nds dark contemporary

echoes in modern Africa, directed by RSC Chief Associate

Director Gregory Doran.

Gregory’s most recent productions include Shakespeare’s

‘lost play’ Cardenio, re-imagined as part of the RSC’s 50th

birthday celebrations, as well as his 2008 production of Hamlet.

Director: Gregory Doran

Designer: Michael Vale




23 MAY - 17 JUNE 2012

Oily Cart go on a voyage of discovery with their

young audiences through the landscapes of

Shakespeare’s imagination and the music of

his language.

Renowned for their ‘wonderlands’, the company creates a total

theatre experience for children aged 2 to 4, their families and

friends. Multi-talented performers, live music, enchanting

visuals, intriguing textures and delightful odours come together

to create a magical introduction to the theatre. Commissioned

for the World Shakespeare Festival.

‘This is theatre which cradles its young audienceand helps them to dream’Caroline McGinn, Times, on Oily Cart’s

How Long is a Piece of String

A play

for

ages 2

-4

A play

for

ages 1

1+

13 JUNE - 6 JULY 2012

‘What should the wars do with these jiggling fools?’

The story of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar told through the eyes

of a jiggling fool, a lowly poet having bad dreams, a man who

fi nds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time…with the

wrong name...while history thunders past.

Written for ages 11+, I, Cinna (The Poet) engages a young

audience to think and write, to consider the relationship

between words and actions, art and politics, self and society.

This is the latest in a series of solo shows written by Tim Crouch

inspired by Shakespeare’s lesser characters, including

I, Peaseblossom and I, Malvolio (RSC, 2011). Commissioned for


I, Cinna (The Poet) will also tour to schools

in the Midlands and Newcastle upon Tyne.

Director: Tim Crouch

by Tim Crouch


SWAN THEATRE

BOOK TICKETS www.rsc.org.uk | 0844 800 1110Tickets £5 for under 26s and £10 for over 26s on public sale from 10 October 2011

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SHAKESPEARE UNLOCKEDOn 23 April 2012, BBC Learning and RSC Education are launching digital resources for teachers and students providing unique insights into Shakespeare in rehearsal and performance.


EDUCATION

MY SHAKESPEAREWhat does Shakespeare mean to you? Based on an

interactive map of the world we will be asking people all

over the globe to build a living tapestry of the connections

we make to the work of William Shakespeare.

See page 29 for full details.


DON’T MISS

by Tim Webb

AN OILY CART / ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY CO-PRODUCTION

SWAN ROOM

Project partner

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BOOK TICKETS www.rsc.org.uk | 0844 800 1110Tickets from £12 - £50 on public sale from 10 October 2011

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26 JULY - 15 SEPTEMBER 2012

This vibrant and colourful production transposes Shakespeare’s

vivacious, and at times unsettling, comedy of love and deceit

to an Indian setting.

Much Ado About Nothing is directed by Iqbal Khan whose recent

credits include Broken Glass (Tricycle Theatre, 2011) and

The Killing of Sister George (Arts Theatre, 2011). He has worked

at the Birmingham Rep, Lyric Hammersmith and National

Theatre where he directed the Pinter double bill Landscape and

A Slight Ache in 2008. Meera Syal will play Beatrice. An actress,

comedienne, writer and singer, she is perhaps best known

as one of the creators of the radio and television series

Goodness Gracious Me, in which she also appeared, as well

as The Kumars at No. 42.

Director: Iqbal Khan



THE COURTYARD THEATRE

OFF BY HEART SHAKESPEAREYoung fi nalists from the BBC’s Shakespeare recital contest compete against each

other to deliver Shakespeare’s famous speeches to a panel of judges. One will be

crowned the 2012 Off By Heart Shakespeare champion.

29 January 2012, 3pm, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Tickets £5 / £10This event will be fi lmed for a BBC2 documentary and broadcast as part of the BBC Shakespeare

Season in 2012.RSC Education Hotline: 0844 800 1113

EVENTS

10 - 18 AUGUST 2012

Shakespeare’s magical, shape-shifting play. A joyous

combination of incompatible things: dumbstruck actors,

suppressed emotions running riot, masterly solecism, divine

blundering and, fi nally, craftsmen transformed into poets…

From Russia comes the world premiere of Dmitry Krymov’s

interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dmitry Krymov

is a director, artist and designer whose visually stunning

productions have established him as one of the most original

directorial voices of his generation. Expect his take on

Shakespeare’s most magical of comedies to be unlike any

Dream you have seen before. Commissioned for the

World Shakespeare Festival.

In Russian with English surtitles.

Director: Dmitry Krymov

Designer: Vera Martynova

3 - 18 AUGUST 2012

Shakespeare’s epic Trojan play about love, war and politics.

Rupert Goold and Elizabeth LeCompte co-direct an

Anglo-American company in a groundbreaking, multi-media

collaboration between the RSC and The Wooster Group

commissioned for the World Shakespeare Festival.

Elizabeth LeCompte is director and co-founder of the

New York-based Wooster Group. Formed in 1980, the company

is well known for its experimental and innovative style. Its most

recent works include the Baroque opera La Didone and a

version of Tennessee Williams’ Vieux Carré. RSC Associate

Director and Artistic Director of Headlong, Rupert Goold’s most

recent productions include Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice (RSC), Macbeth and ENRON! (Headlong/Chichester/

West End).

Directors: Elizabeth LeCompte and Rupert Goold


THE WOOSTER GROUP /

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY CO-PRODUCTION

SWAN THEATRE


SHAKESPEARE: STAGING THE WORLDMaps, prints, drawings, paintings, tapestries, swords

and armour, manuscripts, coins, medals and other

intriguing objects that will bring Shakespeare’s

London to life.

19 July - 25 November, British Museum



DON’T MISS

A TENDER THING EVENTRe-imagining Shakespeare

Ben Power and guests look at the different representations of

Shakespeare in the World Shakespeare Festival – from translations,

to the reimagining of Romeo and Juliet in A Tender Thing.

Thu 10 May, Swan Room, Stratford-upon-Avon


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EXHIBITION

A CHEKHOV INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL / DMITRY KRYMOV’S

LABORATORY / SCHOOL OF DRAMATIC ART THEATRE PRODUCTION



27 SEPTEMBER - 20 OCTOBER 2012

Ben Power weaves together the words of Shakespeare’s

Romeo and Juliet in a touching story of two lovers. Older than

their more famous counterparts, but no less impetuous in their

affection, they revel in the joy of true love while coming to terms

with the realisation that they are unable to spend eternity

together.

Familiar lines echo through a story that celebrates the

timelessness of Shakespeare’s language, in a beautiful and

heartbreaking world where hope triumphs over all.

Kathryn Hunter revisits the role with director

Helena Kaut-Howson that she created for the RSC at

Northern Stage in 2009.

Director: Helena Kaut-Howson

After Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

by Ben Power


SWAN THEATRE

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE AND SHAKESPEARE BIRTHPLACE TRUST


LIVING WALLSPresented by Squidsoup

21 APRIL - 9 SEPTEMBER 2012

Imagine the walls of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre coming

alive with living wallpapers made of animated texts and quotes

from Shakespearean characters. Reach up and touch the

patterns and see them turn into insect-like creatures that will

scuttle off, scared, leaving words and curses in their wake.

Stand and watch and the creatures may venture forward,

wanting to befriend with messages and questions.

Commissioned for the World Shakespeare Festival.

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE AND

SHAKESPEARE BIRTHPLACE TRUST

THE STORIES OF SHAKESPEARE 21 APRIL - 31 DECEMBER 2012

Take a fresh view of the stories in Shakespeare’s plays in an

exhibition through the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust properties in

Stratford-upon-Avon. The exhibition will grow through the

World Shakespeare Festival; using objects from our collections,

loans and digital screenings of newly commissioned

performances, the exhibition will encourage you to see

his work in a global context.

EVENTS

THE DIRECTOR TALKSJoin Helena Kaut-Howson to

ask how she approached

directing A Tender Thing.

Mon 1 Oct, 5.15-6pm, £5

Stratford-upon-Avon


STRA

TFOR

D-UP

ON-A

VON

PILOT NIGHT12 JULY 2012The RSC and Pilot commission responses to Shakespeare

especially for the World Shakespeare Festival. A glorious

mix of comic, touching and extraordinary performances.

The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon

Visit www.pilotnights.co.uk for details of the line up.

EVENTS

1414

Globe to Globe

37 Plays. 37 Languages. Shakespeare’s coming home to Bankside.

shakespearesglobe.com/globetoglobe

23 April - 3 june 2012

LOND

ON

BOOK TICKETS for Desdemona at the Barbican

www.barbican.org.uk | 0845 120 7548

Tickets on sale in early November 2011

29 MAY - 2 JUNE 2012

Cymbeline’s daughter, Imogen, is forced into hiding as her

husband’s jealousy throws their marriage into jeopardy.

Shakespeare’s poetic and complex late play unveils the physical

and spiritual journeys his hero and heroine must undertake to

recover their love.

Legendary director Yukio Ninagawa, renowned the world over for

his visually powerful interpretations of Shakespeare’s work, brings

this rarely performed romance tragedy to the Barbican stage.

With a career that has spanned over forty years, Ninagawa

has most recently directed Henry VI, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Coriolanus and a Kabuki Twelfth Night, as well as

Titus Andronicus, performed as part of the RSC’s

Complete Works Festival in 2006.

In Japanese with English surtitles.

Director: Yukio Ninagawa

The Barbican in association with Thelma Holt and HoriPro Inc


A NINAGAWA COMPANY PRODUCTION

BARBICAN THEATRE

FESTIVAL EVENTS







BARBICAN EVENTSA series of post-show talks and

debates will take place at the

Barbican as part of the


See www.barbican.org.ukfor full details.

WHAT COUNTRYFRIENDS IS THIS?Four of Shakespeare’s plays

exploring migration, exile, shipwreck

and the discovery of brave new

worlds. Playing in London (See page

18) and Stratford-upon-Avon

(See pages 4 & 5).

DON’T MISS

16

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oto

Nin

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aw

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pa

ny’

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BOOK TICKETS for Cymbeline at the Barbican

www.barbican.org.uk | 0845 120 7548

Tickets are £16 - £50 and are on sale now

EVENTS

JULY 2012 (EXACT DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED)

Malian singer/songwriter Rokia Traoré and Nobel Prize-winning

novelist Toni Morrison, two women of African and African

American origin, come together to create Desdemona, an

intimate and profound conversation between Shakespeare’s

Desdemona and her African nurse Barbary, from beyond the

grave. Moving beyond centuries of colonialism and racism,

two women share stories, songs and hope for a different future.

Toni Morrison transports one of the most iconic, central, and

disturbing treatments of race in Western culture into the new

realities and potential outcomes facing a rising generation of

the 21st century. Rokia Traoré creates a musical texture that

includes traditional African instruments, the kora and ngoni,

creating an intimate performance that allows the audience

to connect deeply with the two women who have the

microphone at last.

Desdemona is commissioned by: Wiener Festwochen,

Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers, Cal Performances, Berkeley, California,

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York, spielzeit’europa I Berliner

Festspiele, Barbican, London, Arts Council England and

London 2012 Festival.

by Toni Morrison, Rokia Traoré

and Peter Sellars

A BARBICAN PRODUCTION

BARBICAN HALL

BOOK TICKETS for the National Theatre

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk | 020 7452 3000

Tickets available from Spring 2012, with half the tickets at £12

FROM JULY 2012

Timon, a wealthy philanthropist and patron of the arts, lives to

please his friends. His lavish generosity bankrupts him and,

suddenly deserted by his former admirers, he is forced to leave

Athens where he plots his revenge with furious bitterness.

Simon Russell Beale is Timon.

Director: Nicholas Hytner


A NATIONAL THEATRE PRODUCTION

OLIVIER THEATRE

DON’T MISS

IN A PICKLE IN LONDONOily Cart’s In a Pickle plays

at Stratford Circus, London,

from 19 – 23 June.

www.stratford-circus.com

LOND

ON

EVENTS

NATIONAL THEATRE EVENTSVisit the festival website for

details of Platforms, events and

learning activities at the National

Theatre as part of the



5 JUNE - 5 JULY 2012

Shipwrecked on the shores of a strange land, Viola believes

her twin brother Sebastian drowned. Disguising herself as

a boy to work in the court of Count Orsino, she fi nds herself

a go-between for the man she serves and the woman who

refuses to love him.

See page 4 for full production details.


Shakespeare’s joyful comedy of mistaken identity follows the

fortunes of two sets of identical twins, accidentally separated at

birth, then miraculously thrown together again. In a town the

size of Ephesus, events like these can only lead to confusion.


18 - 23 MAY 2012

A grand spectacle of theatre fused with circus unfolds in a

unique performance from Brazil’s Companhia BufoMecânica.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s history plays, the bloody events of

The War of the Roses are vividly re-imagined in a glorious black

carnival of villainy, corruption and seduction.

In Portuguese with English surtitles.

See page 8 for more details on the production.

A COMPANHIA BUFOMECÂNICA PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION

WITH THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY

ROUNDHOUSE

BOOK TICKETS www.roundhouse.org.uk | 0844 482 8008

NATIONAL THEATRE AND THE BARBICANDon’t miss Desdemona and Cymbeline at the Barbican,

and Timon of Athens at the

National Theatre.

See pages 16 & 17 for

full details.

ALSO IN LONDON

18

FESTIVAL EVENTS







The Wooster Group and

Royal Shakespeare Company’s

co-production of

Troilus and Cressida in

Stratford-upon-Avon.


DON’T MISS



ROUNDHOUSE



ROUNDHOUSE

Pericles, Prince of Tyre, is forced to fl ee his kingdom to escape

war with King Antiochus. Travelling to distant lands, he suffers

shipwreck, betrayal and the seeming loss of those he loves.

In a dreamlike tale of wonder, one man’s endurance is fi nally

rewarded with reunion and spiritual discovery.

Tickets for Pericles on public sale from January 2012.


Prospero is usurped from his position as Duke of Milan and

cast away with his daughter to a remote island. Twelve years

later, and intent on revenge, he raises a magical tempest

that shipwrecks his enemies on his shores. What begins as

a search for retribution develops into a journey of acceptance

and compassion in Shakespeare’s fi nal play.


25 JUNE - 8 JULY

Directed by Companhia BufoMecânica performer Renato Rocha

and inspired by Shakespeare’s tragedies, The Dark Side of Love

is a delirious and dreamlike journey into the depths of what we

do for love. Performed by a cast of teenagers in an atmospheric

underground performance space beneath the Roundhouse

Main Space.

Director: Renato Rocha

inspired by William Shakespeare

A ROUNDHOUSE / LIFT PRODUCTION


ROUNDHOUSE


EXHIBITIONS INSTRATFORD-UPON-AVONDon’t miss the free exhibitions

on offer that include seeing the

walls of the Royal Shakespeare

Theatre coming alive with the

animated words of Shakespeare.


DON’T MISS DON’T MISS

WHAT COUNTRY FRIENDS IS THIS?The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night and The Tempest will

also be playing in Stratford-upon-Avon at the

Royal Shakespeare Theatre throughout the festival.

See pages 4 & 5 for full details.

LOND

ON



ROUNDHOUSE



ROUNDHOUSE

12 - 23 JUNE 2012

An ambitious textual and visual deconstruction of Hamlet, interweaving performance, fi lm and installation to create a

vigorous new interpretation that cuts to the heart of the play.

Boldly juxtaposing scenes and speeches, the company aims

to examine themes and characters from a variety of angles,

bringing new meaning to one of Shakespeare’s most

performed works.

Meditative and dreamlike in quality, the hallmark of

dreamthinkspeak’s productions, The Rest is Silence will be

performed within a specially designed and multilayered

structure, allowing the action to unfold on different levels and

on all sides.

Commissioned by Brighton Festival with LIFT and the

Royal Shakespeare Company.

Director: Tristan Sharps

EVENTS

LIFT AND RSC EVENTSLIFT and the RSC present

a series of talks and events

focussing on theatre from the

Arab world.

www.liftfestival.com

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONSDon’t miss the chance to see a variety of different theatre

companies as part of the World Shakespeare Festival, including

National Theatre of Mexico (See page 7), Companhia BufoMecânica

(See pages 8 & 18), The Wooster Group (See page 12),

The Ninagawa Company (See page 16) and more.

DON’T MISS

20

28 - 30 JUNE 2012

Baghdad’s Iraqi Theatre Company create a version of

Romeo and Juliet for a new generation, infused with Iraq’s rich

traditions of poetry, music and ritual.

Shakespeare’s great love story is set against a backdrop of

confl ict between families, communities and generations.

This iconic play fi nds fresh purchase in the soil of contemporary

Iraq, a country where sectarian strife between Sunni and Shia,

ignited and fuelled from outside, has left the population

exhausted by a cycle of violence and revenge. Commissioned for



Director: Monadhil Daood

Designer: Jabbarjodi Alabodi

Translation: Raad Mushatat

BOOK TICKETS for performances at Riverside Studios www.riversidestudios.co.uk | 020 8237 1111

A meditation on Hamlet by William Shakespeare

A dreamthinkspeak PRODUCTION

LIFT AT RIVERSIDE STUDIOS

A collaboration between LIFT and the RSC to bring three new productions to London


Adapted by Monadhil Daood

AN IRAQI THEATRE COMPANY PRODUCTION


31 AUGUST - 3 NOVEMBER 2012

‘O Lear, Lear, Lear!Beat at this gate that let thy folly in,And thy dear judgement out.’

Michael Attenborough, Artistic Director of London’s

Almeida Theatre, brings Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy

to the intimacy of the Almeida stage.

As Lear asks each of his daughters to profess their love for

him, he is fl attered by the false hyperbole of Regan and

Goneril. When his youngest daughter, Cordelia, confesses to

love him simply as a daughter should, his pride is dented and

he casts her out of his kingdom.

Too late to realise his mistake, and forced from power by his

offspring, an increasingly impotent and frail Lear descends

into madness. Award-winning actor Jonathan Pryce plays

the eponymous role.

Director: Michael Attenborough

Designer: Tom Scutt

Lighting: Jon Clark

Sound and Music: Dan Jones


AN ALMEIDA THEATRE PRODUCTION

ALMEIDA THEATRE

4 - 7 JULY 2012

A Tunisian Macbeth where Shakespeare’s malevolent tyrant

and his wife are reincarnated as the equally diabolical, yet

pathetically fallible modern-day duo, Leïla and Zine Ben Ali .

Combining Shakespeare’s text with fi lm and reportage,

this production interrogates the way Arab leaders use, possess

and perpetuate power. It explores their obstinate blindness

in the face of the shifting sands of time and the ambition and

aspiration of the people. What is the root of this power?

Where does this entitlement stem from?

Shakespeare’s vision of evil and driving ambition fi nds new

resonance amidst a mafi a-like culture based on galloping

globalisation and the relics of colonial domination.



Director: Lotfi Achour

Music: Jawhar Basti

THESE PRODUCTIONS ELSEWHEREMacbeth will be playing at Northern

Stage in Newcastle upon Tyne from

12-14 July (See Page 24).

Romeo and Juliet will

be playing at the Swan Theatre

in Stratford-upon-Avon from

26 April – 5 May (See page 8).

THE REST IS SILENCEdreamthinkspeak’s The Rest Is Silence will play at Northern

Stage from 26-30 June

(See page 24) and at Brighton

Festival from 5-27 May

(See page 26).


LOND

ON

BOOK TICKETS for the Almeida Theatre

www.almeida.co.uk | 020 7359 4404

Tickets £8 - £32 on public sale from 24 October 2011 (limited performances)



Adapted by Lotfi Achour and Anissa Daoud

AN ARTISTES, PRODUCTEURS, ASSOCIÉS PRODUCTION


2022

BOOK TICKETSwww.britishmuseum.org/shakespeare | 020 7323 8181

Tickets on public sale from September 2011

FESTIVAL EVENTS







ALSO AT THE BRITISH MUSEUMAn exciting events programme

including performance, fi lm, talks,

lectures and workshops will

accompany this exhibition.

More details will be available online

at britishmuseum.org/shakespeare

from March 2012.

DON’T MISS

TEACHER INSETIn Autumn 2012, the RSC and the British Museum will offer

teachers a unique INSET course linked to the British Museum

exhibition. The course will explore active approaches to

Shakespeare’s plays and practical ways of using objects to

help students understand actions and characters.

britishmuseum.org/schools and


19 JULY - 25 NOVEMBER 2012

SHAKESPEARE: STAGING THE WORLD

THE BP EXHIBITION

In 2012, the British Museum is staging a major

exhibition on the world of Shakespeare in

collaboration with the RSC.

Professional theatre was a new phenomenon in

Shakespeare’s lifetime, and the London playhouse

presented the world to a wide public. This exhibition

explores this important era through the eyes of

Shakespeare, his players and audiences.

It will investigate his importance in shaping a new sense

of national identity, fi rst English and then British, and

how he recast characters from antiquity to reframe

history. The exhibition will connect such aspects to

Shakespeare’s plays through elements of contemporary

performance.

Shakespeare’s London of around 1612 will be brought to

life by objects from the Museum’s collection and from

across Europe. Maps, prints, drawings, paintings, tapestries,

arms and armour, manuscripts, coins, medals and other

intriguing objects will all be examined through the lens

of Shakespeare’s plays.

EDUCATION EVENTS

22

6 - 8 SEPTEMBER 2012

Worlds Together invites you to contribute to a major international forum challenging and exploring the

place of Shakespeare and the arts in young people’s lives across the world. Created in two parallel

strands, it is part of the World Shakespeare Festival and turbinegeneration, an international, online

educational partnership, produced by Tate.

Designed for education professionals, this unique three-day event will investigate learning across the

arts and in museums, asking what’s at stake for children’s cultural lives today. Through keynote

addresses, practical workshops and international dialogue, participants can choose to focus on

Shakespeare, or look more broadly across the arts.

50% of the world’s school children study Shakespeare

The Shakespeare programme will ask what Shakespeare means to teachers and young people in

different countries and how this can help us develop approaches that keep his work a coherent and

vivid part of a child’s educational and cultural life.

During the conference you will:

Engage in practical workshops and seminars on teaching Shakespeare from leading international •

artists, academics and practitioners. These sessions will provide you with transferable strategies to

use in your classroom

Explore research and practice from Shakespeare classrooms around the world, deepening your •

understanding about Shakespeare as an artist who speaks to many different cultural practices and

perspectives

Respond to provocations and questions about the place of Shakespeare and the arts in a •

contemporary curriculum

Speakers include: children’s writer Michael Morpurgo; leading Shakespeare academic and author of

1599 James Shapiro; former education Secretary of State Estelle Morris and leading educationalist

Shirley Brice-Heath.

Worlds Together is the fi rst collaboration between Tate Modern, the British Museum, the

National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The conference is hosted throughout

Tate Modern and its Clore Learning Centre, Bankside, London. Events will also take place at the

British Museum and the National Theatre. Spaces are limited.

Delegate fee: £395 to include the full three-day programme, lunch, refreshments

and free entry to the British Museum exhibition, Shakespeare: Staging the World.

To book or fi nd out more, call the RSC Education Hotline on 0844 800 1113

or visit worldshakespearefestival.org.uk/education

For further information about the broader arts programme, visit tate.org.uk

LOND

ON

An international conference exploring the value of the arts in young people’s lives from Shakespeare to the digital realm

BOOK TICKETS for Northern Stage

www.northernstage.co.uk | 0191 230 5151

Tickets £12.50 - £24 on public sale from 10 November 2011

BOOK TICKETS for The Sage Gateshead

www.thesagegateshead.org | 0191 443 4661

Tickets on public sale from 10 October 2011

4 - 7 JULY 2012

A stunning, full-scale production of Bernstein’s West Side Story

with bold, new choreography by Will Tuckett. Also directed by

Will Tuckett, West Side Story features Northern Sinfonia,

orchestra of The Sage Gateshead, conducted by renowned

conductor and musical director John Wilson.

The cast will feature the very best in exciting new and emerging

talent, from professionals at the outset of their musical career

to semi-professionals and amateurs engaged through a

wide-reaching audition process.

Part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Open Stages project.


Director and Choreographer: Will Tuckett

Conductor and Musical Director: John Wilson

Based on a conception of Jerome Robbins.

Entire original production directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins.

Originally produced on Broadway by Robert E Griffi ths and Harold S Prince

by arrangement with Roger L Stevens.

Presented by arrangement with Joseph Weinberger Limited on behalf of

Music Theatre International of New York.

RE-MAKING SHAKESPEARENorthern Stage, the School of English at Newcastle University, and the RSC explore

the impact of Shakespeare’s work on artists and educators across the world.

Talks, workshops and presentations with speakers including artists from the

World Shakespeare Festival and leading academics.

Sat 14 July, Northern Stage, £20

Northern Stage Box Offi ce 0191 230 5151 or go to northernstage.co.uk

EDUCATION CONFERENCES

24

26 - 30 JUNE 2012

An ambitious textual and visual

deconstruction of Hamlet, interweaving

performance, fi lm and installation to create a

vigorous new interpretation that cuts to the

heart of the play. Boldly juxtaposing scenes

and speeches, the company aims to examine

themes and characters from a variety of

angles, bringing new meaning to one of

Shakespeare’s most performed works.






NORTHERN STAGE

EVENTS

EVENTS AT THE SAGE GATESHEADLook out for our exciting and

vibrant fringe events around

West Side Story with music and

theatre performances, talks, fi lms

and workshops for everyone.

thesagegateshead.org

NORTHERNSTAGE

Book by Arthur Laurents,

Music by Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

A SAGE GATESHEAD PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY’S OPEN STAGES

THE SAGE GATESHEAD

12 - 14 JULY 2012

A Tunisian Macbeth where Shakespeare’s

malevolent tyrant and his wife are

reincarnated as the equally diabolical,

yet pathetically fallible modern-day duo,

Leïla and Zine Ben Ali .

Shakespeare’s vision of evil and driving

ambition fi nds new resonance amidst a

mafi a-like culture based on galloping

globalisation and the relics of colonial domination.





Adapted by Lotfi Achour and Anissa Daoud

AN ARTISTES, PRODUCTEURS, ASSOCIÉS PRODUCTION

NORTHERN STAGE

NORTHERNSTAGE

inspired by the work of William Shakespeare

A BIRMINGHAM REPERTORY THEATRE COMPANY

AND BARCELONA INTERNACIONAL TEATRE PRODUCTION


OLD REP THEATRE

31 AUGUST - 15 SEPTEMBER 2012

Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company joins forces with

internationally renowned director Calixto Bieito and

Barcelona Internacional Teatre to present an original play

inspired by Shakespeare’s references to forests throughout

his work, in a Dante-esque journey through life, paradise,

hell, truth and lies.

With a cast of English and Catalan actors, led by the great

Catalan actor Josep Maria Pou, Calixto Bieito will show,

through plays such as Timon Of Athens, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, Macbeth and As You Like It, a “forest” which

represents a place for the getaway, a punishment or sentence,

and, sometimes, a place for shelter and redemption.

Calixto Bieito is no stranger to UK audiences, having

previously directed at ENO, WNO, the Barbican, Edinburgh

International Festival and Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

One of the most prominent and sought after directors in

Europe, Calixto’s re-workings of the classics test

boundaries and provoke reaction with their spellbinding

and passionate vitality.

Performed in Catalan and English with surtitles.

Director: Calixto Bieito

Designer: Rebecca Ringst

Dramaturgy: Daniel Loayza and Calixto Bieito

BOOK TICKETS for Birmingham Rep

www.birmingham-rep.co.uk | 0121 236 4455

Tickets now on public sale

BOOK TICKETS for Newcastle Theatre Royal

www.theatreroyal.co.uk | 08448 11 21 21

Tickets £9 - £30 on sale from 10 November 2011

IN A PICKLE at Northern StageThis beautiful voyage through Shakespeare’s imagination

is a magical introduction to theatre for children aged 2+

and their families.

27 - 30 June.

See page 10 for full details

Northern Stage Box Offi ce 0191 230 5151

or northernstage.co.uk


2007: MACBETHEdinburgh International Festival

Exact dates to be announced.


NEW

CAST

LE/G

ATES

HEAD

BIRM

INGH

AM

19 - 28 JULY 2012

‘How many timesShall this our lofty scene be acted o’erIn states unborn and accents yet unknown’

The dictator must be assassinated. But who will replace him?

Shakespeare’s great political thriller fi nds dark contemporary

echoes in modern Africa, directed by RSC Chief Associate

Director Gregory Doran.

Gregory’s most recent productions include Shakespeare’s

‘lost play’ Cardenio re-imagined, as part of the RSC’s 50th

birthday celebrations, as well as his 2008 production of Hamlet.

Director: Gregory Doran

Designer: Michael Vale




THEATRE ROYAL, NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE

DON’T MISS

WSF: SHAKESPEARE CHALLENGE BRONZE ARTS AWARDThe RSC has worked with Arts Award to create a special

World Shakespeare Festival edition of the Shakespeare ChallengeBronze level arts award celebrating how Shakespeare’s plays are

re-imagined and interpreted by cultures and countries around

the world.

worldshakespearefestival.org.uk and

www.artsaward.org.uk

AUGUST 2012 (EXACT DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED)

The story of Caius Martius, Coriolanus, is re-imagined in an

era of 24-hour news, celebrity culture and a new global polity.

A site-specifi c work staged within the massive spaces of

Dragon Film Studios, with outside broadcasts from the

battlefi eld, popular grievances delivered straight to camera and

audience participants as the body politic, this production is

a mash-up of previous attempts to get to grips with a contrary

and perplexing fi gure. Commissioned for the


National Theatre Wales’ previous work includes Aeschylus’s

The Persians, staged on the military training range of

mid-Wales, and The Passion, which The Observer described as

‘one of the outstanding theatrical events not only of this year,

but of the decade’.

Directors: Mike Pearson and Mike Brookes

Designers: Mike Brookes and Simon Banham

Composer: John Hardy

Sound: Mike Beer


A NATIONAL THEATRE WALES PRODUCTION


DRAGON FILM STUDIOS

BOOK TICKETS for National Theatre Wales

www.nationaltheatrewales.org

Text NTW 21 to 61211 to get show updates. On sale from 24 May 2012

26

5 - 27 MAY 2012

An ambitious textual and visual deconstruction of Hamlet, interweaving performance, fi lm and installation to create a

vigorous new interpretation that cuts to the heart of the play.

Boldly juxtaposing scenes and speeches, the company aims to

examine themes and characters from a variety of angles,

bringing new meaning to one of Shakespeare’s most performed

works.



Director: Tristan Sharps




BRIGHTON FESTIVAL

BOOK TICKETS for the Brighton Festival

www.brightonfestival.org | 01273 709709

Tickets on sale from 23 February 2012

MY SHAKESPEAREWhat does Shakespeare mean to you? Based on an

interactive map of the world we will be asking people all over

the globe to build a living tapestry of the connections we all

still make to the work of William Shakespeare.


DON’T MISS

BRID

GEND

BRIG

HTON

EDIN

BURG

H

BOOK TICKETS for the Edinburgh International Festival

Join our email list to be fi rst to hear about performance dates and when tickets go on sale: eif.co.uk


(EXACT DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED)

Shakespeare’s magical, shape-shifting play. A joyous

combination of incompatible things: dumbstruck actors,

suppressed emotions running riot, masterly solecism, divine

blundering and, fi nally, craftsmen transformed into poets…

From Russia comes Dmitry Krymov’s new interpretation of

A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dmitry Krymov is a director,

artist and designer whose visually stunning productions have

established him as one of the most original directorial voices of

his generation. Expect his take on Shakespeare’s most magical

of comedies to be unlike any Dream you have seen before.


In Russian with English surtitles.

Director: Dmitry Krymov

Designer: Vera Martynova

A CHEKHOV INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL / DMITRY KRYMOV’S

LABORATORY / SCHOOL OF DRAMATIC ART THEATRE PRODUCTION

EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

based on Shakespeare

Adapted by Grzegorz Jarzyna

A TR WARSZAWA PRODUCTION

EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

10 AUGUST - 2 SEPTEMBER 2012Edinburgh International Festival presents responses to Shakespeare by two of the world’s most visionary and visually striking

theatre companies as part of the World Shakespeare Festival


(EXACT DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED)

‘Brash, aggressively violent and very free adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy’ New York Times

Military commander Macbeth unleashes a nightmare of carnage

and destruction. A war on terror that is a war of terror.

Acclaimed director Grzegorz Jarzyna’s production, set in a

contemporary and brutal middle-eastern confl ict, is unfl inching

in its depiction of the machine of violence, which, once set in

motion, works faster and ever more effi ciently. If killing in a war

is justifi ed, so is killing in the privacy of one’s home. If you can

kill men, why not also women and children?

With spectacular pyrotechnics, immersive video effects and

an extraordinary, layered soundscape playing tricks on the ear,

Shakespeare’s web of politics, ambition and the supernatural

is transformed into a contemporary living theatrical fi lm.

In Polish with English surtitles.

Director: Grzegorz Jarzyna

Translation: Stanisław Baranczak

Cast includes: Cezary Kosinski and Danuta Stenka

Supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (AS YOU LIKE IT)As well as the Edinburgh

International Festival, this show

also plays in Stratford-upon-Avon

from 10 - 18 August.

See page 12 for more details.

DON’T MISS

FORESTSBirmingham Repertory Theatre Company and Barcelona

Internacional Teatre present a new play inspired by

Shakespeare’s forests throughout his work.

31 August – 15 September

See page 25 for details.

DON’T MISS

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Open Stages is a new project

that aims to embrace, develop and celebrate amateur theatre,

re-forging the bond with the world of professional theatre.

Throughout 2011 and 2012, the RSC, in partnership with

a number of producing theatres and amateur theatre

associations, is running a national programme of skill-sharing

events and showcases, with amateur societies from across

the UK producing their own Shakespeare-themed productions.

Over 260 amateur companies have signed up to produce

RSC Open Stages productions across the UK, from Penzance

to the Isle of Skye, with over 6400 people taking part. Some of

these companies have been regularly producing Shakespeare

since well before the establishment of the RSC and some are

trying it for the fi rst time. Productions have been performed

everywhere from castles to village halls, beaches to ballrooms,

supermarkets to forests, with many being performed

in the hundreds of successful amateur-run theatres around

the country.

As part of the World Shakespeare Festival we are inviting

some of RSC Open Stages’ most exciting amateur companies

to perform at the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company in

Stratford-upon-Avon.

These performances will take place on 13, 14, 15, 21 and 22

July 2012. Visit www.worldshakespearefestival.org.uk to fi nd

out who will be performing.

‘ The RSC wants to lead a step change in the relationship with

the amateur sector; to celebrate its rich traditions, open our

doors to its work and collaborate with partners nationally to

leave a signifi cant legacy.’

MICHAEL BOYD

As part of Open Stages, West Side Story will be performed at

The Sage Gateshead. See page 24 for full details.

Open Stages Partner Theatres: Contact, Manchester; Hall for

Cornwall; Lyric Theatre, Belfast; National Theatre Scotland;

New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich; Nuffi eld Theatre, Southampton;

Questors, London; Sherman, Cardiff; The Sage Gateshead.

A UNIQUE COLLABORATION BETWEEN AMATEUR

AND PROFESSIONAL THEATRE

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON

6400 AMATEUR THEATRE-MAKERS FROM 6 TO 90 YEARS OLD 263 AMATEUR PRODUCTIONS ACROSS THE UK174 SHAKESPEARE PRODUCTIONS 19 MACBETHS 18 A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAMS 13 THE TEMPESTS12 TWELFTH NIGHTS 12 ROMEO AND JULIETS 30 NEW PLAYS 6 NEW MUSICALS 26 DEVISED PLAYS

28

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The RSC Ensemble is generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation and the Kovner Foundation

The RSC Literary Department is supported by the Drue Heinz Trust

Image credits

The following supporters are not offi cial Partners of London 2012

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We create

international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide. We work in

over 100 countries in the arts, education and English. Our global arts team works with the best of British creative talent to

develop innovative events and collaborations that link thousands of up-and-coming artists and cultural institutions around the

world, drawing them into a closer relationship with the UK.

Travelex and the National Theatre are proudly celebrating the 10th season of Travelex £12 tickets

Worlds Together is supported by Unilever. The Unilever Series:

turbinegeneration is an online educational partnership linking

schools and galleries internationally. The project is produced

by Tate and sponsored by Unilever.

Page Production Credit

6 Hath Britain All The Sun That Shines? Image by Ellie Kurttz

8, 20 Romeo & Juliet Photo by Raad Mushatat

9, 25 Julius Caesar Image by Mario Benjamin

9 Passage to Africa Photo by Stewart Hemley

10, 25 In a Pickle Production: If All the World Were Paper. Photo by Patrick Baldwin

11 Off By Heart Shakespeare Image by Stewart Hemley

16 Cymbeline Production of Titus Andronicus

16 Desdemona © Vienna Festival production of Desdemona

17 Timon of Athens Photo of Simon Russell Beale by Matt Humphrey

20, 24, 26 The Rest is Silence Photo by Emma Critchley. Model: Tegen Hitchens. Dress: Joanne Fleming Designs

21 King Lear Photo by Helen Warner

22 Shakespeare: Staging the World Glass enamelled with pantaloon fi gure. Venice or Antwerp, c.1600. © The Trustees of the British Museum

22 Teacher Inset Photo by Gina Print

23 Education Conference Large photo by Stewart Hemley; small photo by Rob Freeman

24 Remaking Shakespeare Photo by Ed Moore

28 Open Stages Large photo by Stewart Hemley; smaller images by Farrows Creative

Designed and printed by Dewynters.

To book tickets for performances in the

World Shakespeare Festival, please visit the website

or contact the Box Offi ce of the venue where

the production is being performed, which is

listed underneath each production.

There is no central Box Offi ce for the

World Shakespeare Festival, so please go to


for more information on how to book.

For more information about the

World Shakespeare Festival please visit


The Festival website includes:

Full listings of all events, talks, workshops and •

debates supporting the productions

• Information on dedicated work for students

and teachers

Blogs, videos and photos of productions •

in development

News updates •

Booking links•

Stay in touch and get involved:

Sign up for the regular email updates at


Find us on Facebook

facebook.com/worldshakespearefestival

Follow us on Twitter

twitter.com/wsf2012

Printed in September 2011. Every effort is made to ensure that the

information remains correct, however please check with individual

venues and companies for full and fi nal details.

RSC registered charity number 212481

Documents

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