|
Dateline:
15th July, 2004
Albery the Venue for Six Month RSC
London Season
£5
Tickets for Young People
Soho to Host New Writing Festival
The RSC has launched a new initiative to give young people access to
the theatre with £5 tickets for all performances in its forthcoming
London season at the Albery Theatre. Fifty £5 tickets, including
the best seats in the house, will be available to young people aged
16 to 25 for each of the 150 performances in the six-month season.
The young people’s tickets initiative was announced today (15th
July, 2004) at the launch of the RSC’s 2004/5 London Season, which
will run at the Albery Theatre from 18th November 2004 to 7th May 2005.
Around the same length as previous RSC Barbican seasons, this will be
the first time the Company has played an extended season in the capital
since April 2002.
In addition to the five productions, the season will include an education
and outreach programme, including platform debates, behind-the-scenes
showcases and a programme of public ‘Audience with’ sessions
featuring acclaimed RSC practitioners and alumni.
All four main house productions from the Stratford Festival Season
of Shakespearean Tragedies will transfer to the Albery in a deal struck
by the Company with the Ambassador Theatre Group who own and manage
the venue. A season of new plays produced by the same company of actors
transfers to the Soho Theatre in March 2005.
Artistic Director, Michael Boyd said, “It’s been my ambition
since I took over at the RSC, for London audiences to enjoy a season
of our work and not just those productions that commercial producers
are willing to take a risk on. The Albery’s a favourite theatre
among West End audiences and artists, but the important thing about
this season is that we’re bringing productions to London under
our own control. These are not co-productions: this is a six month RSC
season in the West End that proves we’re serious again about a
regular and sustained presence in the capital.
“I think it’s absolutely right that we’ll be performing
our work in the heart of one of the world’s great entertainment
capitals. As a popular dramatist, Shakespeare would understand that.
It’s crucial that we use this opportunity to deepen and extend
our audience. That’s why the events, education work and young people’s
tickets are an essential part of the RSC’s presence in London.”
The season at the Albery Theatre has been masterminded by the RSC’s
new Executive Director, Vikki Heywood. It builds on a successful relationship
between the RSC and theatre owners and producers, the Ambassador Theatre
Group. The Company worked most recently with ATG on Gregory Doran’s
production of Othello, presented with Thelma Holt and Hori Pro
Inc, and currently playing a sell-out run at the newly-refurbished Trafalgar
Studios (formerly the Whitehall Theatre). Productions from the RSC’s
first New Work Festival will transfer to the Soho Theatre in
Dean Street, one of London’s most exciting venues for new writing.
Vikki Heywood, Executive Director said, “Putting the RSC’s
finances in order over the past 12 months means we can again commit
to a regular London season. In a year we’ve managed to reduce the
Company’s deficit from £2.8 million to under £½
million. That means we’re able to regain control of how we present
the Stratford Festival Season in London.
“We know our audiences want to know well in advance where we’re
playing in London and feel they’re part of an extended season that
includes events and education work. Basically, it’s that feeling
that there’s an RSC flag outside a London theatre for a good chunk
of the year. Now we’re in a position to deliver that.”
Howard Panter, Co-founder and Managing Director, Ambassador Theatre
Group added, “The Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) is delighted to
have concluded this exciting new arrangement with the RSC at the Albery,
building on the recent successful relationship and season of the RSC’s
Othello at ATG’s new Trafalgar Studios.”
The new young people’s tickets initiative builds on the success
of the RSC’s Family Shows in building new audiences for theatre.
Over 250,000 theatre first timers have attended family shows in London
and Stratford since the productions began in 1999. Around 20 per cent
have subsequently booked for Shakespeare productions with the Company.
This new initiative targets young people who are beginning to make
their own decisions about how they spend their spare time. Currently
under-represented in the RSC’s existing audiences, the initiative
aims to attract under-25s who are beginning to develop their own tastes
and leisure habits. Half the tickets will be sold to young people in
advance, with the remaining 25 released on the day, reflecting the last
minute nature of many young people’s entertainment decisions. The
tickets for every performance will be drawn from a range of prices,
across the auditorium.
In addition, a number of £15 tickets will be available for key
public sector workers, including teachers and nurses, for every matinee
performance and for every Monday evening performance. Schools and college
groups will be able to buy RSC schools tickets at £10 for all
shows and family tickets (up to four children half price with every
full-price ticket) will also apply for the Albery season.
RSC Associate Producer, Thelma Holt CBE said, “It’s been
no secret that, in spite of proudly bringing with Bill Kenwright so
many RSC productions to London (the five Jacobean plays, The Taming
of the Shrew, The Tamer Tamed and, of course the magnificent
All’s Well That Ends Well with Judi Dench), we have been
merely marking time until the RSC could return to London, present their
own work and not be in bed with commercial producers – including
me.
“Wearing my hat as RSC Associate Producer it gives me considerable
joy that my colleagues have been able to affect this in such a very
short time. I know that London theatregoers will welcome the Company
back with open arms.”
The season opens with four of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies
– Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and
Macbeth, followed by Vanessa Redgrave playing the title role
in Euripides’ Hecuba.
The new work season at the Soho theatre includes Tynan by Richard Nelson
and Colin Chambers, Midwinter by Zinnie Harris, Poor Beck
by Joanna Laurens as well as The Pilate Workshop devised by Michael
Boyd with the acting company.
|A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z|
News
Archive A-L
News Archive M-Z
Production News Archive
Please note that all three Archive
indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
|
