The Royal Shakespeare Company will mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016 with a national and international programme of productions and collaborations.
Among the highlights will be a live broadcast on BBC2 on Shakespeare’s birthday, the company’s first major tour to China and the four history plays being produced at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
In Stratford, RSC associate artist David Tennent will host a live collaboration with the BBC. Big names in the worlds of opera, ballet and musical theatre will be among those taking part.
There will be a full repertoire of Shakespeare productions in the Warwickshire town including Antony Sher playing the title role in King Lear. In the RSC’s Swan Theatre, there will be plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries.
A new interactive exhibition exploring the history of theatre in Stratford and revealing the people and stories behind the productions will be staged in the Swan Theatre’s front-of-house spaces.
In 2016, The Other Place studio theatre will reopen and for the first time the public will be able to tour the RSC’s costume store.
In London all four of Gregory Doran’s productions of Richard II, Henry IV Parts I and II and Henry V will play in repertoire for the first time, with most of the original cast. King and Country: Shakespeare’s Great Cycle of Kings will be staged at the Barbican from November 2015 until January 2016.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation will tour every UK national and region from February until June 2016. Amateur companies selected from each of the 13 areas will join the RSC core cast to play Bottom and the Mechanicals alongside schoolchildren playing Titania’s fairy train.
The production will play in Stratford at the start and end of the tour, culminating in June with Midsummer celebrations across the town. The entire project will be shown on BBC1.
Every school in the UK will be invited to be part of the RSC’s Dream Team 2016 by staging their own production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
In February 2016, the RSC will tour Henry IV Parts I & II and Henry V to the National Centre for the Performing Arts Beijing, Shanghai Grand Theatre and Hong Kong Arts Festival.
All four history plays will go to Brooklyn Academy of Music in April 2016.
Further information is available at the RSC web site.