LONDON could get a series of ‘flatpack’ replicas of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Stratford home, built whenever the company is in town with a big show.
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“I would put money on that being part of the future solution,” said outgoing RSC artistic director Michael Boyd.
“[The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford] is perfectly positioned to be placed within some large four walls.”
‘Large’ is right as any venue would need to have a space big enough to accommodate Stratford’s 975-seat theatre, but Boyd pointed out that the RSC pulled off a similar-sized flatpack trick in New York last year (pictured).
In the Big Apple, the space used was the Park Avenue Armory, an atmospheric old structure that could be compared with somewhere like the main hall of the Tate Modern, Battersea Power Station or Alexandra Palace.
Whatever venue is chosen, the flatpack approach could be an innovative solution to a problem the RSC has had for 10 years, since it exited stage left from its previous London home in the Barbican.
Boyd also announced the RSC’s productions for next winter’s season, which include an adaptation of the classic children’s story The Mouse and His Child; what is billed as the first major version outside China of The Orphan of Zhao – often known as the Chinese Hamlet – and a new adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s Galileo.
