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Dateline: 14th October, 2011
Boyd and Heywood to Step Down Michael Boyd and Vikki Heywood are to step down from their respective roles as Artistic Director and Executive Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company by the end of next year, it was announced today in the company's Annual Report. The Report announced that, since opening the doors to transformed Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres in November 2010, the RSC has welcomed over 500,000 additional day visitors to the building, served 48,000 diners, given 24,000 theatre tours and taken 55,000 people to the top of the new Theatre tower. During 2010/11, the Company played to 90% capacity in Stratford, London and Newcastle upon Tyne and made £8.3m at the Box Office, despite a two month dark period and limited access to its stages as it moved back into its Stratford home. The annual report highlights the completion of Phase 3 of the Transformation project on time, on budget and fully funded. £39.4m of the total £112.8m cost came from public donations from 26,000 people in 60 countries. Sir Christopher Bland, RSC Chairman since 2004, welcomed the report, as he handed over Nigel Hugill, who takes up the role of Chairman from today. "It has been an extraordinary seven years since I became Chairman and I am very proud of all that the Company has achieved," said Bland. "At the heart of this success has been true collaboration - with theatre staff and artists, with our audiences and many, many partners. Michael Boyd and Vikki Heywood have led the Company brilliantly during this period of change. Together we’ve returned it to a sound financial footing and delivered on our ambition to bring actors and audiences closer together." Michael Boyd said, "2011 has been our most ambitious year since I was appointed Artistic Director in July 2002. "We have opened the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre to unusual acclaim. Our new home is already much loved by the public and critics alike and has won many major awards. It’s arguably the best theatre for the contemporary production of Shakespeare in the world. We also reopened the Swan, and quickly remembered how much we had missed our beautiful mid-scale theatre. "We celebrated the 50th birthday of the RSC with our most successful season in both theatres, at the box office, and in the press, for decades. "We took our long ensemble repertoire to New York, and were hailed 'the theatrical event of the New York Summer', housed in our extraordinary travelling facsimile of the new RST that only our workshops could have built. "We launched the World Shakespeare Festival, years in the planning, breathtaking in scope, and the lynchpin of the UK’s cultural programme to celebrate the 2012 Olympic Games in London. "Next month we open Matilda The Musical, eight years in the making, to a very strong advance at the Cambridge Theatre; together with our Stratford winter season of a thrilling, physical re-telling of the legend of Robin Hood, and a three play celebration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible in the Swan. "This is my tenth AGM as Artistic Director, and next year will be my last. I have always said that it would take ten years to make a genuine difference in the life and the soul of the company, and though ten years will not be enough to achieve all that I would like, it will be time for me to pass the challenges on to a new Artistic Director. "If the RSC is in good shape now, it is in large part due to the expert, passionate and playful chairmanship of Sir Christopher Bland who today passes his challenge to Nigel Hugill, and to my chief co-conspirator Vikki Heywood. Her shrewd insight, her tremendous energy, and her robust rigour have made all our achievements possible. Our brilliant, wonderful company of every conceivable skill and discipline has made them a reality." "I am immensely proud to have led the team that built arguably the finest theatre for Shakespeare in the world, which is loved by both artists and audiences," Vikki Heywood added. "Delivering a £112.8m transformation project, which included a multi-award-winning theatre building, on time and on budget, has been one of the greatest achievements of my career. "Michael and I have decided to leave at the same time because that is the right decision for the company. This is a planned and slow departure with a progressive transformation to a new leadership who will take the company forward for the next decade. "I join with Michael Boyd in praising the terrific team at the RSC and I would like to give a huge thank you to Christopher Bland who has led the company so well and been my mentor and friend."
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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