The Stage

RSC extends Stratford venue revamp

Published Monday 23 April 2007 at 12:50 by Alistair Smith

The Royal Shakespeare Company has secured in excess of the £100 million required to embark on the major overhaul of its Stratford base, and now plans to extend the scheme.

The company’s international campaign to transform the Royal Shakespeare Theatre into “the best theatre in the world for Shakespeare” has recently received five major donations from private philanthropists, totalling £22 million, which has brought the total cash pot for the works beyond the £100 million mark.

These early pledges have, according to the RSC, “given the company the confidence to grow its initial plans”. The overall cost of the scheme will now rise from £100 million to £112.8 million. The extra improvements will include a double-height rooftop restaurant with dual views across the River Avon and Bancroft lawns, as well as increased space and facilities for artists and staff. These improvements will be made while restoring the original riverside facade, the foyer and circle bar of the 1932 building.

The international campaign, chaired by Dame Judi Dench and Lady Susie Sainsbury, has secured support of more than £50 million in three years, matching the original £50 million grant from Arts Council England.

Sainsbury commented: “I’ve been an audience member at the RSC for five decades. I’m thrilled to be helping realise a long-term ambition - the creation of the ideal thrust-stage theatre, in Shakespeare’s own birthplace. This is a truly historic project, and one that deserves widespread support from theatregoers the world over.”

The news came as the RSC received planning consent for the major element of the project. Stratford District Council has passed a “resolution to grant planning permission” to the scheme, following two years of public consultation by the RSC. The project is now referred to the Government Office for the West Midlands and, if formal consent is given in the coming weeks, the project will move into the construction phase. Work on site is scheduled to begin on Monday, April 30, and is due to be completed by 2010.