The demise of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre/Company has been predicted for a number of years now, yet somehow this once great theatre company continues to exist. Gutted and a mere shadow of its former self, it clings to the idea that 37 (?) plays will sustain it to the end. It swallows up a grant that a quite number of smaller theatre companies would survive on and pushes a system of weird ‘repertory’ (my opinion), that is slowly killing it. The royal shakespeare theatre must adapt to thrive in today’s landscape.
The time has obviously come for someone to be brave (and take a drop in salary) and make the decision that would have its vast resources (buildings/theatres/rooms etc) dedicated to all theatre, and not to one (great as he may be) playwright.
Moreover, the royal shakespeare theatre should explore innovative programmes that attract diverse audiences.
In other words, all Theatre celebrated (and dedicated in Shakespeare’s name if need be).
And to (re) start the process I would advocate a return to the repertory system. A system that would help in its own way to reduce the never-ending conveyor belt of unemployed actors by offering them a year/2-year contract where they could perform Shakespeare (if need be) and more modern plays (lots of them), ongoing, all year round.
In doing so, the royal shakespeare theatre can build a bridge between classical and contemporary works.
Detractors of this system and their usual cries of ‘The RSC couldn’t hope to offer actors wages that compete with TV and films’ have perhaps not noticed that film and TV are experiencing their own problems and as a result are making massive cuts.
A return to repertory, a return to variation and a celebration of all theatre would (in my opinion) attract the new audiences that theatre and especially the RSC is crying out for.
It is essential that the royal shakespeare theatre honours its roots while embracing new artistic expressions.
I should make it clear that I am not advocating a return to a golden age that more than likely did not exist. In my experience and my time at the Jam Factory, there were departments within, that all played their part in its slow death.
Be it greed, self-importance, bullying, hierarchy and a tendency to invent mysterious, self-imposed cultures and ‘rules’, they all played their part in jumping on the gravy train. Thankfully, some of those departments no longer exist.
Sadly however, chances were missed during one of the many ‘clear-outs’ and there was no-one with vision (courage?) enough to build on the free spaces that were left behind, so even today we still find existing and new (ish) departments who have become more important than the basic purpose of the RSC itself…i.e. Producing Theatre.
Soon, someone will write a book about the death of Shakespeare’s theatre which in turn will become a screenplay, unfortunately too late to become a stage play as the Royal Shakespeare will be, like its master’s grave, dust.
Failing to evolve could mean the royal shakespeare theatre becomes a relic of the past.