The UK and Ireland tour of Matilda the Musical helped the Royal Shakespeare Company to record a profit of £3.45 million in the year 2018–19, the RSC’s annual general meeting was told.
During the year, the RSC staged 28 productions and co-productions, five of which were new commissions.
Matilda the Musical was performed in South Korea. It has now won 95 international awards including 23 for best musical and has been seen by more than nine million people worldwide.
Further international success came when the RSC opened three productions—The Tempest, Twelfth Night and Hamlet—in China.
The company issued 1.7 million tickets worldwide and more than one million people visited its theatres in Stratford.
The charity’s total income was £86.44 million. Box office revenue totalled £53.3 million, 62% of its income. Arts Council England reduced its investment by 3% to £14.9 million.
Reflecting on the year, artistic director Gregory Doran and executive director Catherine Mallyon commented, “we believe that Shakespeare is for everyone and we want people of all ages to develop a lifelong relationship with Shakespeare and live theatre.
“We aim to build a nation of Shakespeare and theatre lovers by creating opportunities for people to have amazing experiences of Shakespeare's plays and of great theatre.
“Our productions on stage, cinema screenings, free schools' screenings and events, UK and international tours, exhibitions and our deep-rooted education work are some of the ways in which we do this.
“We worked with just over 500 actors last year and reached 534,374 young people through our education activity across the country.”
They added, “we make amazing things happen through our partnership working, and partnerships make it possible to achieve all that we do. Our 11 long-term partner theatres, 246 associate schools and 518 young Shakespeare ambassadors are integral to what we do. Together we want everybody to have the opportunity to feel the transformative power of theatre and Shakespeare.”
The RSC says its continued priority and key challenge is to “maintain a balanced financial position in the light of static Arts Council Grant funding and declining royalties”.
The annual report is available at the RSC web site.