Total income for the Royal Shakespeare Company in the last financial year (2012-13) increased by 30% to £62.6 million, it was revealed in the company’s annual review.
This was achieved because box office grew by 75%, fundraising by 28% and trading income by 9%.
During the year the RSC gave 1,459 performances of 25 productions to a total audience of more than 1.5m people. More than 335,000 attended an RSC production for the first time.
At the RSC’s annual general meeting, artistic director Gregory Doran said, “It’s our job to bring the best possible experience of Shakespeare and live theatre to the widest possible audience and inspire a lifelong love of his work.
"As we celebrate a strong year, it’s a good moment to look forward into the future. Shakespeare has given me a passport through life and it’s my ambition that a new generation has the same opportunity to experience the richness of his plays.
“Starting with Richard II, we’ve set a course over the next six years to stage all 36 plays in the first folio, making every play an event.”
He added, “I also want to take Shakespeare off his pedestal and put him back in the context of his contemporaries.
“We’re returning the Swan Theatre to the work of those Jacobethan writers, and we hope to reopen our studio theatre, The Other Place, as a creative hub for new work and experimentation, led by my deputy artistic director, Erica Whyman.
"The breadth of work we’ve undertaken in the past year shows we continue to be radical, to try new things and to ask the hardest questions of ourselves and our work.
“The response we’ve had to productions as diverse as King John and Matilda shows how willingly audiences respond to that ambition and l look forward to more experimentation.
"If Shakespeare is a passport through life, then the arts are essential to the health of the nation. From classroom to auditorium, up and down the UK, I see the value of theatre everywhere.
“It’s important that we make the case for culture and shout loudly about the impact it has on individuals, communities and regions.
"We’ve been fortunate that Matilda, nurtured over several years by a combination of philanthropy and public investment, has allowed us to weather, in part, the storms of funding cuts and economic downturn. We couldn’t have planned its extraordinary commercial success and yet we can’t rest on our laurels and rely on its substantial contribution for ever.
"The regional theatres we work with across the country face more immediate challenges and we’ll continue to collaborate with and support them where we can.
“Great regional theatre is crucial, not just to local audiences, but to the success of the national companies and the West End and we must do all we can to make the case for its future wellbeing.”
At the same time as the RSC’s annual turnover rose to more than £62m, public investment from Arts Council England fell by £0.8m to £16.6m. The company now generates 73% of its own income.
As well as playing in Stratford, London and Newcastle, the RSC toured work to 13 UK cities, nine UK schools and five countries, playing to 83% capacity across all locations.
RSC executive director Catherine Mallyon said, “The fantastic figures mask some real challenges. There’s significant pressure on us and on arts organisations up and down the country. We know this because we're out there, performing and working in every region.
“Cuts in public investment are biting. Local authorities are having to take unwelcome decisions. Trusts and foundations face pressures on their own endowment returns. And corporate sponsorship for the arts is falling, especially outside London.
"We're responding to the challenges with vigour, to bring the best possible theatre to the widest possible audience.”
Facts, figures and highlights from the RSC’s last year can be found on the RSC web site.