Exchange

Each year at its annual spring meeting, Shakespeare Quarterly's editorial board tries to identify issues of common concern to the international community of Shakespeareans which our journal might profitably address. One such issue in spring 2002 concerned changes in the direction, policies, and performance spaces of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a theater company whose productions SQ has covered for many years. The editorial board did not wish to take a position on developments at the RSC but did feel obliged to inform its readership about them, even while recognizing that events would always outrun our ability to report on them. Miriam Gilbert, a veteran close observer of the RSC, and Stanley Wells, vice chairman of the RSC's board of governors, graciously accepted our invitation to comment separately on the long-term implications of these developments, airing contrasting viewpoints that we hope will allow SQ readers to arrive at their own conclusions. We are grateful to Professors Gilbert and Wells for accepting a difficult assignment and for giving our readers the benefit of their expert perspective on events significant to Shakespeareans.