We were in Newcastle Theatre Royal with Measure for Measure, As You Like It, and The Taming of the Shrew, and about to head for Blackpool Grand for the final leg of the UK Tour. Then The Taming of the Shrew company would set out for Chicago, Washington, South Korea and Tokyo (just ahead of the Olympics). In Stratford, the get-out of The Boy in the Dress was underway in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and the fit-up was about to start in preparation for the technical rehearsals to begin for the new summer season of The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors.

The company in the Swan were preparing for the last week of performances of The Whip and King John, and at The Other Place, Projekt Europa was in the final stage of rehearsals for Europeana and Peer Gynt, which would follow. At the Cambridge Theatre, Matilda The Musical was about to enjoy its tenth birthday in the West End, while at the Ambassadors Theatre Kunene and the King was entering the final week of its run and A Museum in Baghdad was preparing to open at London’s Kiln Theatre. Then the theatres closed.

It was a devastating end to the year, and one that nobody could have predicted for the RSC, or for our many friends and colleagues in the theatre industry. Although we have been unable to produce our usual Annual Review, we wanted to celebrate all that had been achieved before the Covid-19 crisis hit and closed theatres around the country overnight. 

Read the RSC Annual Review 2019/20 (PDF)