Cooke’s Move Causes Sickness at RSC???

The Royal Court’s artistic director-designate Dominic Cooke made his first press appearance since his appointment was announced a fortnight ago (See News, 24 Jan 2005) – although officially it was in his current capacity as an associate director at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was on hand to support RSC artistic director Michael Boyd at a lunch with arts correspondents to discuss the year-long Complete Works festival in Stratford-upon-Avon (See Today’s News), but the first thing each journalist said to Cooke as they entered the room was “congratulations” before asking excitedly about plans for his new job. Boyd pre-empted any further questions directed at him on the matter by saying as part of his introductory spiel, “We’re sick as a parrot that Dominic’s going to the Royal Court, but it’s the best thing for British theatre in the long run.” Perhaps some of the new work Cooke has played a hand in initiating for the RSC could even find a further life at the Royal Court, Boyd suggested.

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