Royal Shakespeare Company announces new season

The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced their spring and summer season.

The company announces that Angus Jackson will direct a season called Rome, which marks 2000 years since the death of Ovid. In the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Jackson directs Julius Caesar between 3 March and 9 September 2017, Iqbal Khan will direct Antony & Cleopatra from 11 March to 7 September 2017. Titus Andronicus will run 23 June to 2 September 2017 and will be directed by Blanche McIntyre.

Speaking to WhatsOnStage earlier this year, McIntyre said: "I couldn’t be more excited to be directing Titus Andronicus at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

"I think it’s intensely modern. It’s about class, the dispossessed, excluding huge chunks of populations, and of course it’s incredibly full of gore and really shocking plot twists. So it’s going to be modern, relevant and a hell of a ride."

In the Swan Theatre there will be a world premiere of Phil Porter's new play Vice Versa inspired by Plautus' comedies, a production of Oscar Wilde's Salome and a production of Christopher Marlowe's Queen of Carthage.

Vice Versa (or the Decline and Fall of General Braggadocio at the Hands of his Canny Servant Dexter and Terence the Monkey) will run between 11 May and 29 September and will be directed by Janice Honeyman. The show is a comedy about a pair of lovers and a servant who outwit their general.

Owen Horsley's production of Salome marks 50 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales. The show runs from 2 June to 6 September.

Venus & Adonis, directed by Gregory Doran, runs between 26 July and 4 August. The show will be created in conjunction with Little Angel Puppet Theatre in the Swan Theatre.

The world premiere production of Richard Bean's new play The Hypocrite will arrive in the Swan Theatre between 30 March and 29 April after a run at Hull Truck Theatre as part of the Hull UK City of Culture 2017. The show is a farce about the English civil war and will be directed by Philip Breen.

Opening the shows in the Swan this season is Snow in Midsummer by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, directed by Justin Audibert, between 23 Feburary to 25 March 2017. The show will be a contemporary retelling of Guan Hanqing's Chinese classic, which tells the story of a young girl who is framed for a crime she did not commit.

Dates are yet to be announced for Kimberley Sykes' production of Dido, Queen of Carthage in the Swan Theatre. Jackson also directs Coriolanus, with dates to be announced.

Artistic director Doran said: "I am delighted that Angus Jackson will be season director and he directs our opening production, Julius Caesar. This will be crosscast with Antony & Cleopatra, directed by Iqbal Khan (director of last year's Othello), and I am very pleased Josette Simon returns to the company to play Cleopatra. Titus Andronicus will join the season in the summer, directed by Blanche McIntyre (currently directing The Two Noble Kinsmen in the Swan), and we conclude the programme with Angus’s production of Coriolanus.