THE RSC is promising the most technologically advanced production in its history this winter.
Artistic director Greg Doran will direct Simon Russell Beale as Prospero in the innovative new staging of The Tempest which will be the RSC’s now traditional family show.
Other highlights of the winter season include Antony Sher in the role of King Lear. Shakespeare’s great tragedy will also be directed by Doran, and Sher will joined by David Troughton as Gloucester and Paapa Essiedu as Edmund.
Cymbeline, directed by Melly Still, will extend its run in repertoire with King Lear.
The Swan Theatre’s 30th anniversary season will include Blanche McIntyre directing The Two Noble Kinsmen by Shakespeare and Fletcher, which will play in repertoire with The Rover by Aphra Behn, directed by Loveday Ingram.
A new play by Anders Lustgarten, The Seven Acts of Mercy, premieres at the end of the year.
RSC Artistic Director, Gregory Doran, was excited about hi-tech Tempest.
He told The Observer: “Inspired by the spectacular masques of Shakespeare’s day, we have set ourselves the challenge of creating the most technologically advanced production we have ever staged in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, working with Intel and The Imaginarium Studios.
“We will blend ancient theatre skills with innovative digital technology to conjure up Prospero’s island, inhabited by fantastical characters, in Shakespeare’s most magical late play The Tempest.
“I cannot think of a clearer way of showing the ‘infinite variety’ of Shakespeare’s work and the inspiration he has provided over the centuries. Shakespeare is for everyone and we want to share his legacy with the widest possible audience. His inheritance is for the many, not the few.”
