Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon: The RSC's 2001-2002 Season

As readers of Shakespeare Quarterly will be aware, the months between April 2001 and August 2002 were notable in Stratford for turmoil in and about the Royal Shakespeare Company, with upheaval in the company's organization, speculation about its policies and plans, the sudden resignation of Adrian Noble as artistic director and the announcement of Michael Boyd as his successor. The upheavals of the past eighteen months, with their strain on resources, company morale, and public goodwill, may be followed by a period of stabilization. There are signs of a return to older policies and to a reinforced sense of the company's identity. The Stratford schedule for 2003, announced in January, suggests that the new regime will reverse many of the decisions taken by the old. This will be a longer season, ending in early November, and will feature a single company working in both the Swan and the main house. There is as yet no word on the Other Place, but the major development initiatives—demolition, rebuilding, and a "theatre village"—and the organizational restructuring of Project Fleet seem to be at least on hold.

The quality of many of the Shakespeare productions during this period should not be overshadowed by these momentous doings. The summer Festival Season of 2001 included a fine Hamlet, an enjoyable Twelfth Night,and a challenging Julius Caesar. Greg Doran's King John opened the season in the Swan, where Peter Barnes's somewhat jumbled Jubilee provided another Shakespearean element in its satire on David Garrick's inauguration of the Shakespeare industry. ¹ No plays by Shakespeare were performed by the RSC at the Other Place in the period under review, although an engaging and vigorous Japanese production of The Merchant of Venice was seen there in October, and Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) from New York brought its eclectic Cymbeline—with Samurai Britons, Renaissance Europeans, and cowboys hiding in Wales—for a short season in November and early December. For the time being, it seemed as though this was to be the studio theater's last bow as a public performance space in its present form. On the last night of Cymbeline the director, Bart Sher, made a curtain speech thanking three individuals—all women—for their contribution to the experience. These were Cicely Berry, who had been instrumental in TFANA's coming to Stratford; the theater's administrator Bronwen Robertson; and Buzz Goodbody, the founder of the Other Place in its first incarnation as a tin shed. None of the company had met Goodbody, who died in 1975. As he mentioned her name, the red neon strip that formed part of the set—which had not faltered through the whole run—began to flicker.

Christmas was celebrated in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre itself with Adrian Mitchell's dramatization of Alice in Wonderland,directed by Rachel Kavanaugh. Three touring productions by the RSC were also seen during the winter. The Merchant of Venice, directed by Loveday Ingram,played in the Swan for fifty-nine performances between 28 November and 19 January. A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Richard Jones—which I missed—shared the main house with Alice for forty-four performances from 1 February to 23 March. Heinrich von Kleist's The Prince of Homburg, a co-production with the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, was given twenty-seven performances between 24 January and 16 February. Once again, the haphazard nature of the season—or seasons—might be thought to undermine the theater's identity. Kleist's historical drama, rarely seen in Britain, would have been a valuable component of a full season at the Swan or the Other Place (as Schiller's Don Carlos was in 1999), but stranded in Warwickshire in midwinter it was an odd choice. The consensus of the national critics was that neither A Midsummer Night's Dream nor The Merchant of Venice showed the company to its best...