RSC in Talks for Improved Stratford Rail Links???

"We're living through dangerous times," Royal Shakespeare Company executive director Vikki Heywood told assembled critics at the launch of the company's summer season in Stratford last week. In response to repeated questions about the chances of the £100 million refurbishment of the Grade II-listed Royal Shakespeare Theatre running over budget (See News, 16 Dec 2004), she was resolutely upbeat, insisting lessons had been learnt from similar operations at the Royal Court - which saw its re-opening night take place at the Old Vic - and the Royal Opera House. But she admitted that there was no way to foresee all eventualities and, quizzed about the opening date for the revamped auditoria, would only say, "sometime in 2009". She also revealed that the company is no nearer to settling the vexed question of finding a permanent London home. The new-look Royal Shakespeare Theatre will see the number of seats cut from 1,400 to 1,000 in order to improve the quality of experience for audience members in the circle. However, Heywood revealed that theatregoers had already been voting with their feet with sales of tickets in the notoriously audience-unfriendly upper floor declining markedly over recent years. She also revealed that the company had been in talks with Chiltern Railways and the local authority over a resumption of a high-speed rail link to the town from London. And she urged members of the public to write to the authorities in support of the move. At present, the average journey to Stratford from London creeps in more than two hours after leaving the capital, having stopped at every junction en route.

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