RSC

[theatrepaul]

I was pleased to read details of Greg Doran's first programme of shows as the new Artistic Director of the RSC.

Matilda aside, I think the RSC has gone off the boil in the last few years so a shake up is overdue.

Great to see David Tennant back with the RSC to play Richard II. He's a fine Shakesperian actor and his best performances on stage have come with the RSC.

Great news also that the RSC plan to stage every Shakespeare play in the coming years without repeating any. This is good because some are overlooked for too long, for example it's been an age since there was an RSC Pericles or Cymberline, whereas the likes of Hamlet seem to come along with ever increasing frequency.

I know there are great and not so great works in the Shakespeare canon but its good that the RSC will be exploring them all.

Am looking forward to news on the reconstructed Other Place theatre now that the old Courtyard building is for keeps in Stratford. Also, Doran seems committed to finding a permanent RSC home in London again. In my opinion one of the RSC's biggest mistakes was to give up its permanent London home, so it's interesting that Richard II will also play at the Barbican, a venue purpose built for the RSC before Adrian Noble decided to quit the Barbican complex. In my view the Barbican remains the best venue to stage the major RSC productions and I hope they move back there long term alongside special seasons at the Roundhouse which has been transformed well to suit their needs in recent years.

Interested to hear others' thoughts on the RSC, past, present & future?

[no-mans-land]

Really looking forward to the Swan staging plays of Shakespeare's contemporaries. And beyond Tennant, word is Doran is courting other big names and look forward to that as well.