Gunpowder Shoots for Separate Season???
Date: 8 June 2005
Yesterday’s announcement of the five-year agreement between the Royal Shakespeare Company and
Cameron Mackintosh will concentrate on transferring productions from Stratford-upon-Avon’s main house Royal Shakespeare Theatre (and, during its future redevelopment, the interim Courtyard Theatre) to the West End (See
News, 7 Jun 2005), which this year involves bringing the four-strong “Comedies” season to the newly renamed Novello Theatre from December. But that doesn’t mean “Gunpowder”, the season of little known Jacobean and Elizabethan political drama coinciding with the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot and now running at the Swan Theatre in Stratford, is left out in the cold. Speaking at yesterday’s press conference, RSC artistic director
Michael Boyd said that, although nothing could yet be announced, he has already planned and budgeted to bring the Gunpowder plays in. The key will be finding the “right space”. Last year’s equivalent, the Spanish Golden Age season, was, he felt, “overstretched” earlier this year at the West End’s 800-seat Playhouse. One distinct possibility for the Gunpowder season is Trafalgar Studios, a similar size to the Swan at 400 seats. Carved out of the former Whitehall Theatre, the space was inaugurated in June 2004 by the RSC’s Swan production of
Othello, which had an extended run there (See
News, 2 Apr 2004).
Got some goss? Contact gossip@whatsonstage.comRelated Content
