RSC welcomes Romeo & Juliet for Christmas

Ian Hughes

01 May 2008

A "BOLDLY theatrical" Romeo and Juliet takes centre stage at the RSC in Stratford this winter.
The story of the star-crossed lovers will run at the Courtyard Theatre between November 27 and January 24. It is billed as a boldly theatrical new staging of Shakespeare’s fast-moving tale of two teenagers torn apart by family vendettas, and reunites director Neil Bartlett and designer Kandis Cook, the creative team behind last year’s Stratford production of Twelfth Night, which starred John Lithgow.
It will play in repertoire in Stratford with Don John, brought by Kneehigh Theatre in association with the RSC.
Don John will run from December 12 to January 10.  After an acclaimed production of Cymbeline during the Complete Works Festival in 2006, Kneehigh return to Stratford with the new production inspired by Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, the legend of the world’s greatest lover.
Also in association, Filter Theatre will revive their fast paced version of Twelfth Night last seen during the Complete Works Festival, taking it on a tour of West Midland schools before one-night at the Courtyard. Twelfth Night will tour schools across the region between November 3 and 14 - and there will be a one-off production at the Courtyard on November 7.
RSC Artistic Director Michael Boyd said: “2008 is a year of great change for the RSC, with the transformation of our theatres well and truly underway.
"But the ambitions for our work remain the same - to play Shakespeare, to build on the legacy of the Complete Works Festival, collaborating and developing our relationships with other UK companies,  to tour, taking that work out to as wide an audience as possible, and to continue our commitment to writers and to new plays.
"Neil Bartlett’s Romeo and Juliet will play at The Courtyard Theatre over Christmas, and I’m excited by what Neil will bring to bear on one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. It will perform in repertoire with Kneehigh’s new production of Don John, which will premiere in Stratford. Our relationship with Kneehigh Theatre began with their playful retelling of Cymbeline in the Complete Works Festival, and I’m very proud that they want to continue collaborating with the RSC on this retelling of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
 "Both productions will also tour across the UK, and we welcome back Filter Theatre’s hugely successful Twelfth Night, originally commissioned as part of our Complete Works Festival, which will tour to our younger audiences in schools across Warwickshire and in London, making Shakespeare immediate and alive in the classroom."
For more information and tickets call the RSC Box Office on 0844 800 1110 or log onto www.rsc.org.uk.

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