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The Royal Shakespeare Company
Founded in 1879 as the Shakespeare Memorial Company, the RSC has been
home to such luminaries of stage and screen as Richard Burton, Paul Scofield,
Peggy Ashcroft, Michael Redgrave, Glenda Jackson, Ian McKellen, and Laurence
Olivier and Vivien Leigh.
In 1961, director Peter Hall reorganized the company and divided it into
twin units, one based at Stratford-upon-Avon, the other based in London.
Hall’s changes enabled the company to develop into a professional
ensemble working year-round.
In July 2002 Michael Boyd was announced as the new Artistic Director for
the RSC, replacing Adrian Noble, and signaling a new chapter in the company’s
history. Boyd became an Associate Director of the company in 1996 and
has directed numerous productions for the company. In 2000/01 he won an
Olivier Award for Best Director for the productions Henry VI: Parts
I, II, and III, and Richard III. The productions formed
part of the RSC’s This England: The Histories Cycle, and were
co-produced with the support of the University of Michigan and the University
Musical Society.
Today’s Royal Shakespeare Company performs not only the Shakespeare
plays that are its central focus, but also other European classics, new
plays and contemporary drama, and rare works from the Elizabethan repertoire.
Despite the company’s international status, its ideals today are
the same as those of director Sir Frank Benson in 1905: the RSC is formed
around a core of associate actors and actresses whose skills continue,
over the years, to give a distinctive and unmistakable approach to theater.
The RSC is not only a great theater company but a superb training ground
for the artistic and technical talents of British and international theater.
Learn more about the Royal Shakespeare
Company.
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