RSC summer season to include shows by Charlie Josephine and Tanika Gupta
Tanika Gupta’s The Empress and a new play by I, Joan writer Charlie Josephine feature in the summer season of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theatre.
The programme also includes The Merchant of Venice 1936, starring Tracy-Ann Oberman, and a new play by Brad Birch, all of which form part of the venue’s reopening line-up.
Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet was previously announced to run at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, and will be followed by a revival of Gupta’s The Empress, originally commissioned by the RSC in 2013.
Pooja Ghai will direct the new production, which will run at the Swan Theatre from July 7 to November 18 before transferring to the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in London from October 4 to 28.
Also at the Swan Theatre will be Falkland Sound by Brad Birch, which runs from August 5 to September 16, directed by Aaron Parsons. It is about the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentinian forces.
Watford Palace Theatre’s The Merchant of Venice 1936, directed by Brigid Larmour and starring Oberman, will play at the Swan Theatre from September 21 to October 7 before embarking on a tour of England and Wales.
The Merchant of Venice 1936 is a Watford Palace Theatre production in association with HOME Manchester and developed with support from the Royal Shakespeare Company.
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Josephine’s new play Cowbois will run from October 14 to November 18 and is co-directed by Josephine and Sean Holmes. It is described by the RSC as a "Western like you’ve never seen it before".
Acting artistic director Erica Whyman said: "This season is a celebration of the power of theatre and of stories we should have heard or should have listened to, but we haven’t dared.
‘We live in a volatile, fractious world. Shakespeare would have recognised its energy; he, too, knew a world of accelerating change, inventive and exhilarating, but also furious, divisive, unequal, uneasy. The RSC has always believed it essential to support and celebrate the living writers that have their fingers on this unease, who can expose new ways of seeing our history and conjure a brave new world that we don’t yet understand. Now, more than ever, it takes courage to speak these truths, as new cultural wars roar and mutter."
The RSC has also announced the full performance schedule for As You Like It, directed by Omar Elerian, and Macbeth, directed by Wils Wilson, which will run in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from June 17 to August 5 and August 19 to October 14 respectively.
Live at the RSC in association with Underbelly and the Orchestra of the Swan will also return with a line-up that includes comedians Rory Bremner and Nina Conti as well as other acts.
Full season below...
RSC summer season at a glance
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
As You Like It by William Shakespeare
Directed by Omar Elerian
June 17 to August 5, with press night on June 27
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Directed by Wils Wilson
August 19 to October 14, with press night on August 30
Swan Theatre
The Empress by Tanika Gupta
Directed by Pooja Ghai
July 7 to November 18, with press night on July 18
Falkland Sound by Brad Birch
Directed by Aaron Parsons
August 5 to September 16, with press night on August 15
The Merchant of Venice 1936 by William Shakespeare
Directed by Brigid Larmour
September 21 to October 7, with press night on September 26
Cowbois by Charlie Josephine
Directed by Charlie Josephine and Sean Holmes
October 14 to November 18, with press night on October 24
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