RSC to Stage History Cycle at London's Roundhouse
By John Nathan
29 Jun 2007
The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced that Shakespeare's eight-play Histories Cycle will transfer from Stratford-Upon-Avon's Courtyard Theatre to London's Roundhouse in the spring of 2008.
Helmed by the RSC's artistic director, Michael Boyd, the productions will play in repertory, allowing audiences to follow all eight plays in sequence.
Plays in the Histories Cycle include Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part II, Henry V, Henry VI Part I, Henry VI Part II, Henry VI Part III, Richard II and Richard III.
Earlier this year, the refurbished Roundhouse hosted Tim Supple's acclaimed Indian version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Less successfully, the company staged productions of The Tempest, The Winter's Tale and Pericles at the venue in 2002.
At that time the RSC's then-artistic director Adrian Noble was criticized for opting to take the company away from its permanent London base at the Barbican in favor of staging transfers from Stratford at various West End venues.
"The company wasn't necessarily in the same healthy state as it is now, and neither was the Roundhouse as physically lovely as it is now," said Boyd, when asked about the RSC's return to the venue.
The RSC will also be using two of London's new-writing venues to showcase new works. In November the Soho Theatre will host an as-yet unnamed work by Anthony Nielson (The Wonderful World of Dissocia), and from February 2008 Roy Williams' Days of Significance - a response to Much Ado About Nothing - will make its London debut at The Tricycle, as will Leo Butler's I'll Be the Devil, described as an epic, brutal response to The Tempest.
As previously announced, the London season also includes Trevor Nunn's pairing of King Lear and The Seagull, both starring Ian McKellen, which arrive at the New London Theatre in November.
For more on the RSC's London season, call (0)844 800 1117.
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