Swan Theatre (Stratford)
Encyclopedia
The Swan Theatre is a theatre belonging to the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...

 in Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is built on to the side of the larger Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is a 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the British playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is located in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon - Shakespeare's birthplace - in the English Midlands, beside the River Avon...

, occupying the Victorian Gothic structure that formerly housed the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre that preceded the RST but was destroyed by fire in 1926.

Trevor Nunn
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...

 and Terry Hands
Terry Hands
Terence David Hands is an English theatre director. He ran the Royal Shakespeare Company for 20 years during one of its most successful periods.-Early years:...

 were joint artistic directors of the RSC when the company opened The Swan. Designed by Michael Reardon
Michael Reardon (English architect)
Michael Reardon is an English architect, historic building consultant, and interior designer. He worked on the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, as well as being the inspecting architect for Birmingham's St. Philip's Cathedral and Hereford Cathedral.His most notable project, the Swan...

, it has a deep thrust stage
Thrust stage
In theatre, a thrust stage is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its up stage end. A thrust has the benefit of greater intimacy between performers and the audience than a proscenium, while retaining the utility of a backstage area...

, and is a galleried, intimate auditorium holding around 450 people.

The space was to be dedicated to playing the works of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

's contemporaries, the works of European writers and the occasional work of Shakespeare. The theatre was launched on 8 May 1986 with a production of The Two Noble Kinsmen
The Two Noble Kinsmen
The Two Noble Kinsmen is a Jacobean tragicomedy, first published in 1634 and attributed to John Fletcher and William Shakespeare. Its plot derives from "The Knight's Tale" in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales....

by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher
John Fletcher (playwright)
John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...

 (not published until 1634 and thought to be Shakespeare's last work for the stage). It was directed by Barry Kyle
Barry Kyle
Barry Albert Kyle is an English theatre director, currently Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, England, and Professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Missouri–Kansas City....

.

The Swan has subsequently been used for many other types of drama including the works of Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...

, Ibsen and Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...

.

The Swan Theatre has recently been refurbished as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s £112.8 million transformation project. Improvements to the Swan include re-carpeting of the auditorium on all levels and re-upholstering of seats. The project also saw the installation of a new induction hearing loop, an upgrade to the sound and lighting infrastructure and the replacement of the air conditioning system which has enabled roof-space to be freed up, returning the capability for flying and hanging scenic items over the stage. The project also enabled a number of structural changes, so the Swan Theatre now has more storage space and shares back-of-house and public spaces with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The two theatres are linked together for the first time by a new Colonnade.

The Transformation project included new facilities and public spaces for the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres - a Rooftop Restaurant with views over the River Avon, a Riverside Cafe and Terrace, the PACCAR Room exhibition space, a 36m high tower which provides circulation and outstanding views from its 32m high viewing platform, a new public outdoor space, Weston Square, to connect the theatre with the old medieval town to the west, and a riverside walk which stretches from the Bancroft Gardens, past the theatre, towards Holy Trinity Church.

The whole building is now accessible for the first time for all visitors, performers and staff.
Both the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres opened in November 2010 for preview events and activities in advance of the first full Shakespeare performances from the RSC’s existing repertoire from February 2011. The first new productions designed specifically for the transformed stages began from April, with Gregory Doran’s Cardenio opening in the Swan Theatre as part of the RSC’s 50th Birthday Season celebrations which run from April to December 2011.

Further reading

  • Beauman, Sally
    Sally Beauman
    Sally Beauman is a British author best known for her Rebecca sequel, Rebecca's Tale.She was educated at Redland High School and Girton College, Cambridge....

    . The Royal Shakespeare Company: A History of Ten Decades. Oxford University Press, 1983. ISBN 0192122096.
  • Trowbridge, Simon. The Company: A Biographical Dictionary of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Oxford: Editions Albert Creed, 2010. ISBN 9780955983023.

External links

  • Swan Theatre. The Company: A Biographical Dictionary of the RSC: Online database by Simon Trowbridge
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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