The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced its spring 1998 season for both the Stratford and London theatres. In London the RSC will be using the Young Vic aswell as the Barbican and Pit theatres in the Barbican Centre. Below is a complete list of the productions:

Royal Shakespeare Theatre (Stratford)

• Twelfth Night
  Now playing
  Shakespeare's most popular play and one of his greatest comedies. Directed by Adrian Noble.
• Merchant of Venice
  Now playing
  Shakespeare's great play of love and money, justice and mercy. It is as challenging and controversial today as it was 400 years ago. Directed by Gregory Doran, the cast features Philip Voss as Shylock.

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• The Tempest
  Opens 25 February
  A magical and mysterious yet romantic and comic, this is Shakespeare's most fascinating play and the last play he wrote on his own. Directed by Adrian Noble, the cast includes David Calder as Prospero.
• Measure for Measure
  Opens 30 April
  A political and social drama by Shakespeare, directed by Michael Boyd.

• Romeo and Juliet
  Now playing, closes 11 February
  Shakespeare's great masterpiece follows the tragic, yet ultimately redemptive affair between the world's most famous lovers. Directed by Michael Attenborough, the cast includes Ray Fearon as Romeo and Zoe Waites as Juliet.
• Bartholomew Fair
  Now playing
  Ben Johnson's outrageously theatrical, noisy and hysterically funny comedy. Directed by Laurence Boswell.
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  Opens 24 February
  A complicated love affair challenges a life long friendship in Shakespeare's first romantic comedy. Directed by Edward Hall.
• Talk of the City
  Opens 29 April
  World Premiere of Stephen Poliakoff's play that explores media control in the early days of radio and television. Directed by the author, the cast includes Kelly Hunter and Diana Kent.

• Roberto Zucco
  Now playing
  Inspired by a wanted poster he saw on the metro, this is the British premiere of Bernard-Marie Koltes' play. Who is Roberto Zucco? A prisoner or a secret agent? A lover or a rapist? Directed by James Macdonald.
  
• Goodnight Children Everywhere
  Now Playing
  Set against the chaotic aftermath of the Second World War, Richard Nelson's intense and fast-moving drama, intimately explores the emotional and sexual fragility of family relationships.
  
• Shadows
  Opens 26 February
  Passionate and poetic, yet violent and disturbing, these three short and compelling plays by JM Synge and WB Yeats reveal our enternal fascination with death. Directed by John Crowley.
  
• Bad Weather
  Opens 7 May
  World premiere of Robert Holman's gripping play that shows how different generations are brought closer together by revelations from the past. Directed by Steven Pimlott.

• The Merry Wives of Windsor
  Now playing, closes 7 February
  Shakespeare play about Sir John Falstaff, who, down on his luck, attempts to restore his fortunes by seducing the wives of two wealthy Windsor citizens. Directed by Ian Judge, the cast includes Leslie Phillips as Falstaff, Joanna McCullum as as Mrs Page and Susannah York as Mrs Ford.
  
• Hamlet
  Now playing, closes 29 April
  Shakespeare's thrilling tragedy. Directed by Matthew Warchus, the cast includes Alex Jennings as Hamlet.
  
• Cymbeline
  Opens 20 January, closes 7 May
  Shakespeare's rarely performed classic. Directed by Adrian Noble, the cast includes Joanna Pearce as Imogen, Damian Lewis as Posthumus and Edward Petherbridge as Cybeline.
  
• Much Ado About Nothing
  Opens 12 February, closes 9 May
  Shakespeare's ironic, punning title hides a hilarious and heartbreaking comedy of disguised emotion and misunderstanding. Directed by Michael Boyd, the cast includes Alex Jennings as Benedick and Siobhan Redmond as Beatrice.

• The Spanish Tragedy
  Now playing, closes 29 January
  Thomas Kyd's fascinating Jacobean revenge drama has all the ingredients of a modern thriller. Directed by Michael Boyd.
• Little Eyolf
  Now playing, closes 7 February
  One of Henrik Ibsen's last and richest achievements Little Eyolf is an excetionally powerful and poignant drama about family relationships. Directed by Adrian Noble.
• The Mysteries
  Opens 21 January, closes 4 April
  The Mysteries retells the Bible story in a vivid and contemporary way, this new version is inspired by the medieval mystery plays with additional text by Edward Kemp. Directed by Katie Mitchell.
• Everyman
  Opens 16 February, closes 31 March
  A medieval morality play. Directed by Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni.
• Krapp's Last Tape
  9 Performances only between 10 March and 4 April
  A forty-five minute intellectual vaudeville act or a masterly trick with the stage and time, Krapp's Last Tape is a haunting piece that reveals something of the enigma of Samuel Beckett. Directed by Edward Petheridge and David Hunt and performed by Edward Petheridge.
• The Unexpected Man
  Opens 15 April, closes 9 May
  The long-awaited new play from Yasmina Reza to wrote the current West End hit Art. Directed by Matthew Warchus.

• Henry VIII
  Opens 18 February, closes 21 March
  Shakespeare's rarely performed history of the life of Henry VIII which is subtitled 'All Is True'. Directed by Gregory Doran, the cast includes Paul Jesson as Henry VIII, Jane Lapotaire as Katherine and Ian Hogg as Wolsey.
• Camino Real
  Opens 3 March, closes 25 April
  Play by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Steven Pimlott, the cast includes Peter Egan as Casanova, Leslie Phillips as Gutman and Susannah York as Marguerite Gautier.
• Uncle Vanya
  Opens 1 April, 2 May
  Stephen Dillane (Vanya), Anastasia Hille (Yelena) and Linus Roache (Astrov) lead an outstanding cast in this new production of one of Chekhov's greatest plays. Directed by Katie Mitchell.