RSC return to the Roundhouse...

Following a successful season in 2008, the Royal Shakespeare Company will be returning to London's Roundhouse theatre. Replicating the temporary Courtyard Theatre which is currently being used by the company in Stratford-upon-Avon, the 750 seat 'intimate auditorium' particularly lends itself  to spectacular historical staging, based around the two central columns of the building. The six play tour, opening with Romeo and Juliet and also comprising of Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, The Winter's Tale and King Lear, will boast a 44 member cast who will aptly demonstrate 'the broadest scope of human experience' that artistic director Michael Boyd believes the reportoire encompasses. The eagerly awaited season is set to start in November of this year. 

Firearm injures Shakespearean actor...

The Royal Shakespeare Company's latest production, 'Antony and Cleopatra' has had to be delayed, after a prop firearm 'seriously' injured the lead actor. Darrell D'Silva has 'shown great grit in returning to the show so quickly' after he returned to work with his arm in a sling, having undergone surgery on his hand. Having 'restaged much of the show to accommodate a one-armed Antony', the play's press night has been postponed from April 20th until May 10th.

What fools these mortals be....

Almost 50 years after her last performance for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Judi Dench has once again taken to the stage. Sir Peter Hall's production, at the Rose Theatre in Kingston, portrays the Queen of the fairies, Titania, as Queen Elizabeth I, who is in love with the theatre. The play, hugely popular in sales, yesterday received its first press reviews. Overwhelmingly in praise of the production, they included the such remarks as; 'Dench can send a thrill of wonder through a line of Shakespeare like wind rippling through a field of wheat' and 'Hall's latest production of A Midsummer Night's Dream is exquisitely well judged in its light-footed, lucid, poetically persuasive, wonderfully funny and brilliantly well-spoken way'.

Is this a dagger which I see before me?...

'So, thanks to all at once and to each one, whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone'. Thus ends Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'. But what does happen after the curtain closes? With Banquo dead, Macbeth killed and Malcom heir in waiting, how will Scotland fair? It is these questions which the Royal Shakespeare Company are attempting to address in their new play, 'Dunsinane'.

The work is written by award-winning playwright David Grieg, who believes; 'to some degree for Scottish writers, it's always felt a little bit cheeky that unquestionably the greatest Scottish play was written by the great English playwright...so there is a slight sense of answering back'. He also hopes that it demonstrates parallels with current situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, where 'men with good intentions going in and trying to coerce a culture to follow its own rules without quite understanding that foreign culture', and encourages modern political leaders to come and watch the performance. The play is on in the Hampstead Theatre until March 16th, and tickets can be purchased here

All the men and women merely players....

Booking is now open for the Royal Shakespeare Company's summer season. The productions at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, include 'King Lear', 'Anthony and Cleopatra' and 'Romeo and Juliet'. The latter is directed by Rupert Goold, who credits includes recent stage shows 'Enron' and 'Oliver!' and stars Mariah Gale, who recently appeared as Ophelia in the BBC's 'Hamlet'. Starting in February and ending in September, tickets for what's sure to be another spectacular season, can be purchased here

If music be the food of love, play on...

A highly praised adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' is currently showing in London for a limited season only. The RSC production, starrring acclaimed stage and film actor Richard Wilson, James Fleet, and many of the company's regulars, is directed by Gregory Doran, whose previous successes include the Tennant-filled award-winning 'Hamlet'. The production is showing at the Duke of York's Theatre until February 27th. Tickets can be bought here

My lord, the queen would speak with you...

Patrick Stewart is one of the leading names on the New Year's Hounour List announced today. Stewart is being awarded with a knighthood for his services to drama, joining fellow Shakespearian actors Ian McKellen and Judi Dench in receiving the accolade. During the years, Stewart has been heavily involved in the Royal Shakespeare Company, most recently alongside David Tennant as Claudius in the 2008 production of 'Hamlet', aired last week on the BBC. Stewart, already the recipient of an OBE, said that he was 'very proud' and that theatre has always been his 'great joy'.

Judi Dench the fairy queen...

Judi Dench is set to star in the Rose Theatre's production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' next year. The Kingston theatre, currently showing Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island', have said they are 'delighted' by the announcement. Dench has been a long standing supporter of the theatre, having previously hosted fundraisers. She will play the part of Titiana the fairy queen, a role she assumed for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1962. The production will run from 9th February until 20th March. Tickets are now on sale and can be booked here

David Tennant speaks daggers...

On a similarly Shakespearian theme, David Tennant has reprised his award winning role as Hamlet. The some time Time Lord combined with fellow actor Patrick Stewart to recreate the Royal Shakespeare Company's production, which proved a sellout success in London's West End. The three hour long drama was aired today on BBC2, and can be seen here. 'Hamlet' is Shakespeare's longest play, and is often one of the most popular to perform, given the numerous interpretations that can be applied to it. Other actors to have played the role include Jude Law and Sam Waterston, with John Simm taking it up later this year.

Shakespeare updated...

Today sees the premiere of 'A Tender Thing' in Newcastle. Using the text of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' as his basis, writer Ben Power has reinvented the play in an updated context; instead portraying an older, married couple. As they discover that their lives may be drawing to a close, they begin to realise that they cannot contemplate being apart. So follows the narrative, with the human capacity for love shown to be transcendent of time barriers, a concept applicable both in the Shakespearian and modern day contexts. A preview of the Royal Shakepeare Company production can be seen here