The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced record figures for 2014-15 and called for every child to have a great first experience of Shakespeare.
The RSC sold more than 1.8 million tickets for 28 productions and co-productions, presenting 2,048 performances, it was announced at the company’s annual general meeting in Stratford.
Artistic director Gregory Doran said, “we’ve had a great year, not only with Shakespeare but also new plays like our acclaimed productions of Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, Tom Morton Smith’s dazzling Oppenheimer and classics from Shakespeare’s contemporaries, with our Roaring Girls strand celebrating great roles for women.
“As we prepare for 2016 and the biggest Shakespeare anniversary ever, we want to reach the widest possible audience with thrilling, contemporary work—made in Shakespeare’s home town and shared across the world. There’s a rich programme on offer.”
The RSC reported a strong financial year in 2014-15, with income of £63.9 million, 75% generated through box office, commercial activities and fundraising. Arts Council England invested £15.8 million.
Box office increased by 5% to £34.3 million and trading income by 3% to £7 million.
The RSC’s education programmes reached more than 530,000 children and young people.
Doran added, “we know great Shakespeare teaching can inspire young people, building confidence and skills in speaking, writing and listening—all essential for a successful future life.
“The RSC approach, drawing on rehearsal room techniques, can change lives. Having had such success working with young people in the past year, we want to invite all schools across the country to join us to make 2016 a year to celebrate Shakespeare’s work with their students.
“They can mark the 400th anniversary in the classroom, by watching a free broadcast or a live performance, or taking part in our Dream Team initiative, which runs alongside our 2016 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation.”
Sam Colborne, director of creative learning at Treviglas Community College in Cornwall, one of 400 schools in the RSC’s learning and performance network, reported, “what has happened has been, quite simply, life-changing.
“My teaching has been reinvigorated, refreshed and broadened, and the experiences of our students changed beyond anything we—or they—considered before.
“We’ve created shows to be proud of and brought our community a little closer to Shakespeare, and perhaps even to one another. We’ve achieved outstanding lesson gradings from Ofsted, using approaches you have taught us. We’ve gained a pride we simply wouldn’t have discovered without the RSC.”