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Dateline: 26th January, 2011
No RSC Newcastle Season This Year The Royal Shakespeare Company will not be producing a season in Newcastle this year, as it has done since 1977. The RSC's artistic director Michael Boyd says the decision was made because of a 6.9% cut in Arts Council funding and the re-opening of the Royal Shakespeare and Swan theatres. The company will, he says, resume its "long-standing relationship" with the city in 2012. He added, "The RSC is proud of its relationship with Newcastle and the North East, and we very much regret that we are unable to bring a full season of plays to the city this autumn because of pressures on our funding. We are planning a national tour to large scale theatres and a Young People’s Shakespeare tour and hope to bring both these to Newcastle in this financial year, 2011/12."David Faulkner, leader of Newcastle City Council, told the Journal newspaper that he was prepared to give RSC artistic director Michael Boyd “the benefit of the doubt” because of his previously expressed appreciation of the city, the Theatre Royal and the Newcastle audiences. "In a previous job," he added, "I was responsible for raising tens of thousands pounds worth of sponsorship to keep the RSC coming to Newcastle so I’m concerned that this may be the thin end of the wedge of a diminishing commitment to Newcastle. "We want Newcastle to remain the RSC’s third home, but the season can’t get much thinner without it being hard to actually call it a season. Missing one year unfortunately makes it easier to drop Newcastle altogether." Philip Bernays, chief executive of the Theatre Royal, said, "It is a great shame that we will not be presenting the RSC season this year, but we also understand the pressure of budgetary cuts right now and the necessity to make some compromises in the short term."
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