Theatre News

Boyd & Heywood Announce 2012 Departure from RSC

| London's West End |

14 October 2011

Michael Boyd and Vikki Heywood have announced their intention to step down as artistic director and executive director of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2012.

Also announced in the RSC’s annual report today was the news that Sir Christopher Bland will hand over as Chairman to Nigel Hugill with immediate effect.

Speaking at today’s AGM, Michael Boyd said: “This is my tenth AGM as artistic director, and next year will be my last. I have always said that it would take ten years to make a genuine difference in the life and the soul of the company, and though ten years will not be enough to achieve all that I would like, it will be time for me to pass the challenges on to a new artistic director.”

Vikki Heywood added: “Michael and I have decided to leave at the same time because that is the right decision for the company. This is a planned and slow departure with a progressive transformation to a new leadership who will take the company forward for the next decade.

“I join with Michael Boyd in praising the terrific team at the RSC and I would like to give a huge thank you to Christopher Bland who has led the company so well and been my mentor and friend.”

The annual report revealed that during 2010/11, the RSC played to 90% capacity in Stratford, London and Newcastle upon Tyne and made £8.3m at the box office, despite a two month dark period and limited access to its stages as it moved back into its Stratford home.

Since opening the doors to the transformed Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres in November 2010, it has welcomed over 500,000 additional day visitors to the building, served 48,000 diners, given 24,000 theatre tours and taken 55,000 people to the top of the new Theatre tower.

Boyd was appointed artistic director in July 2002 and took up the position in April 2003. Among the notable events of his tenure so far has been the Complete Works Festival in 2006, which saw performances of all Shakespeare’s 37 plays, long poems and sonnets, with 30 visiting companies from across the world.

As a director, he worked with a single long term ensemble of 34 actors to stage all eight of Shakespeare’s History plays from 2007-08. And in November 2010, the Company successfully reopened the newly transformed Royal Shakespeare Theatre, on time and on budget, in a major £112.8m project.