The Royal Shakespeare Company is a British theatre company, one of the most influential in the country. It is located primarily at Stratford-upon-Avon, with bases also in London, and Newcastle.

The company's history dates back to 1879 when the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford on Avon staged its first production, which was Much Ado About Nothing. The company attached to this theatre was called the Shakespeare Memorial Company, and became one of the most prestigious in Britain. In 1925 it received a royal charter.

In 1960 Peter Hall formed the modern Royal Shakespeare Company, renaming the Memorial Theatre to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The repertoire widened to take in modern work and classics other than Shakespeare.

Contents

1 Key productions 2 Artistic directors 3 Notable actors 4 External links

Key productions

• The Wars of the Roses , adaptation of the Henry VI plays, directed by Sir Peter Hall (1963-64)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Peter Brook (1970)
• Macbeth, starring Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen (1977)
• The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1980)
• Richard III, starring Sir Antony Sher (1984)
• Les Misérables (1985)
• Les Liaisons Dangereuses, starring Lindsay Duncan , Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman (1985)
• The Plantagenets , directed by Adrian Noble (1988)
• The Gift of the Gorgon , starring Dame Judi Dench (1992)
• Hamlet, starring Kenneth Branagh, directed by Adrian Noble (1992)
• This England: The Histories (2000), a season of all Shakespeare's sequential history plays

Artistic directors

• Peter Hall (1960-1968)
• Trevor Nunn (1968-1978)
• Trevor Nunn and Terry Hands (1978-1986)
• Terry Hands (1986-1991)
• Adrian Noble (1991-2003)
• Michael Boyd (2003- )

Notable actors

The following notable actors have appeared in RSC productions.

• Samantha Bond
• Kenneth Branagh
• Judi Dench
• Ralph Fiennes
• Julian Glover
• Richard Griffiths
• Nigel Hawthorne
• Ian Holm
• Alan Howard
• Jeremy Irons
• Glenda Jackson
• Derek Jacobi
• Alex Jennings
• Jane Lapotaire
• Ian McKellen
• Glenda Jackson
• Helen Mirren
• Richard Pasco
• Bob Peck
• Eric Porter
• Roger Rees
• Ian Richardson
• Diana Rigg
• Fiona Shaw
• Antony Sher
• Donald Sinden
• Elizabeth Spriggs
• Juliet Stevenson
• Patrick Stewart
• Imogen Stubbs
• David Suchet
• David Threlfall
• Harriet Walter
• David Warner
• Dennis Waterman
• Ruby Wax
• Michael Williams
• John Wood

External links

• Official homepage