Erica Whyman has revealed details of her final season of work as acting artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company before she steps down.
The season includes two new productions in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, while in the Swan, there will be the return of an Elizabethan classic and a première as well as a new Shakespeare touring production adapted for children aged between 8 and 13.
Whyman said, “to lead this organisation out of the pandemic has been a privilege, and I’m enormously proud of the strong foundations I leave for its next chapter.
“This season and the artists who lead it embody the qualities I hope have defined my tenure: courage, honesty and ingenuity. I’m grateful to them and all the artists and staff who’ve walked these last wild and rewarding years with me.”
Justin Audibert, artistic director of the Unicorn Theatre and artistic director designate at Chichester Festival Theatre, will return to the RSC to direct The Box of Delights.
Piers Torday’s reimagining of John Masefield’s festive children’s classic tells the story of orphaned schoolboy Kay Harker who finds himself the guardian of a small wooden box with powers beyond his wildest dreams. The Box of Delights will run in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford from Tuesday 31 October until Sunday 7 January 2024.
In the Swan Theatre, Olivier award-winning playwright Isobel McArthur makes her RSC debut directing and adapting Thomas Heywood’s Elizabethan comedy romp The Fair Maid of the West, which runs from Saturday 2 December until Sunday 14 January 2024.
In spring 2024, Eleanor Rhode who made her RSC directorial debut in 2019 with King John, will return to the company to direct a new production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It will run in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from Tuesday 30 January until Saturday 30 March.
Mark Ravenhill’s new play Ben and Imo will be unveiled in the Swan Theatre. It tells the story of the creative relationship between composer Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst, daughter of Gustav and an accomplished musician in her own right. It will run from Wednesday 21 February until Saturday 6 April.
The RSC’s First Encounters series will feature a reimagining of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Adapted for children aged 8 to 13, it will tour to schools and theatres around the country and will be at the Swan Theatre from Thursday 21 until Saturday 30 March. The production will be directed by Philip J Morris, artistic director of Trybe House Theatre, a company working primarily with young black men.
Tracy-Ann Oberman and Brigid Larmour’s adaptation of The Merchant of Venice 1936 will return to the Swan Theatre from Wednesday 24 January until Saturday 10 February.
Whyman is to leave the RSC to pursue a freelance career. Daniel Evans, artistic director of Chichester Festival Theatre, and Tamara Harvey, artistic director of Theatr Clwyd, are to become co-artistic directors of the RSC and will take over later in June 2023.