Lockdown at the RSC: An update

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford has now postponed all events that were planned for the summer season which was due to end on October 3.

All remaining planned performances of The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors are now victims of the coronavirus lockdown.

Performances planned for the autumn and winter which have now been postponed or cancelled include:

• The Wars of The Roses Part 1 and Part 2 - postponed from autumn 2020 until autumn 2021;

• The new family musical The Magician’s Elephant - postponed from winter 2020 until winter 2021;

• The First Encounters with Shakespeare tour of Twelfth Night - postponed until 2021;

• The RSC Barbican annual residency for 2020 - cancelled;

• Matilda The Musical will remain closed in line with other West End theatres;

• All other events cancelled, including RSC Summer School.

Theatre bosses say: "We are exploring the possibility of re-opening the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) in the autumn with new events and re-scheduled performances of The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors.

"Both productions were due to open in the RST this spring and further details will be announced over the coming months.

"The ability to stage the productions in the autumn is dependent on government advice on social distancing and whether it is financially viable to open our theatres and perform to audiences."

Although theatres are physically closed, there is much RSC activity online. Find out more with Home Learning with the RSC, and At Home with Shakespeare. Go to www.rsc.org.uk

Meanwhile, the theatre is contacting everyone who has tickets booked for all performances up to October 3, 2020, to discuss their options. People are being contacted in date order, and at the start of the week in which they were due to attend a show.

They ask people not to contact the box office.

"We promise we will be in touch with you as soon as we can," a spokesman said.