RSC Details Plans for Transforming Stratford BaseDate: 14 June 2006
At a press conference held this morning (14 June 2006) at the Royal Institute of British Architects, Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Michael Boyd said the planned £100 million transformation of the company’s Stratford base - including the redevelopment of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (pictured) itself into a more intimate thrust-stage auditorium - will “marry truth and epic”.
In September 2004, following three years and more than £1.1 million worth of consultation, the RSC officially scrapped controversial plans put in place by former RSC artistic director Adrian Noble to demolish its Grade II-listed Royal Shakespeare Theatre (See News, 22 Sep 2004).
Instead, a new 1,030-capacity auditorium will be created within the existing 1932 riverside building, which currently seats 1,400. Once redesigned, the distance from the furthest seat to the stage will be reduced from the current 27 metres to 15 metres. Work is due to begin in spring 2007, after the year-long Complete Works of Shakespeare Festival (See News, 14 Sep 2004).
Boyd’s £100 million plan includes expansion of both front of house (more disabled access, bar, restaurants, toilet and exhibition space) and backstage facilities (improved dressing rooms, technical and support areas). The Swan and the Other Place theatres will be retained, and a new dedicated space for the company’s educational activity will be created. Throughout the construction period, the RSC will continue to perform in Stratford in the temporary Courtyard Theatre (a prototype version of the new RST), which opens next month with Boyd’s new staging of Shakespeare’s Henry VI trilogy as part of the year-long Complete Works Festival. The RSC will also continue to perform in London, Newcastle and on tour in the UK throughout the transformation of the Stratford site.
At this morning’s press conference to outline the plans, it was revealed that 85 percent of the funding needed for the extensive project has already been obtained. In 2005, Arts Council England confirmed its £50 million pledge for the project to be matched from other sources. In January this year, regional development agency Advantage West Midlands pledged to invest a further £20 million in the project. RSC honorary associate artist Dame Judi Dench and RSC deputy chair Susie Sainsbury will lead the international fundraising campaign which has already secured over £15 million in private pledges towards the £100 million target.
Initial designs from project architects Bennetts Associates will restore the key art deco elements of the Grade II-listed RST, while creating a combined entrance for both the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres. A theatre tower marking a new entrance, providing circulation to all parts of the building and unrivalled views across Stratford, is hoped to bring more visitors to Stratford into the theatre.
In answer to questions about how the reduced number of seats in the RST would affect revenue, RSC executive director Vikki Heywood said: “It’s a question of quality. We found some younger people, who end up in the gallery seats because they’re cheaper, are put off coming back, and that is absolutely not what we want. This allows us to have a more democratic seating and pricing policy, where all the seats will be good.” She said on a yearly basis the theatre plays to approximately 70 to 75 percent capacity. The company hopes the average will increase with the new theatre, thus making up the revenue from the “lost” seats.
Heywood stressed that, as a subsidised theatre, the RSC would make sure prices remained at an accessible level, and said there has been “excellent take-up” of the ticket offers on all RSC productions for the under 25s. She added: “Anything much above a 1,000-seater can become detrimental to the performance of Shakespeare.”
Boyd backed up her point, noting that many actors had in the past been “frightened” of the RST, saying it was like “playing from Dover to Calais”, whereas artists are now “queuing up” to perform in the new theatre. Boyd said: “We want to move away from the 19th-century proscenium ‘picture frame’ to a theatre which celebrates interaction. Our commitment to bring an immediacy and clarity to Shakespeare means we need to bring the audience to a more engaged relationship with our actors. The best way we can achieve this is in a bold, thrust-stage, one-room auditorium – a modern take on the theatres of Shakespeare’s day.”
He added the project aims to bring more of the general public into the theatre by making the site more accessible. “There are 3.5 million visitors to Stratford every year. We certainly don’t get that many into the theatre, but we hope some of them will decide to come to one of our debates, or take part in dressing up or even come to see a show – and then graduate to coming to a 24-hour Histories cycle!”
The company is due to submit a planning and listed building application later this year, which they are “confident” will be approved following their extensive consultation with the local community. The Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres are scheduled to re-open in 2010.
RSC Chairman, Sir Christopher Bland, said today: “We want to open up the theatre and improve its relationship with the town. At the moment, we have a building that can feel like a fortress. At this outline stage of the design process, I’m confident that we’ve got a scheme that reflects the RSC’s ambition to reach out and make Shakespeare fresh and relevant to a new generation.”
- by Caroline Ansdell
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