David Tennant to play Hamlet in RSC’s 2008 season

Published Tuesday 11 September 2007 at 16:40 by Alistair Smith

Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Michael Boyd has unveiled the company’s 2008 programme, featuring Doctor Who star David Tennant playing Hamlet and an increased focus on ensemble theatre.

The season also includes five new works debuting in London and the previously announced transfers of Boyd’s Histories Cycle to the Roundhouse in Camden, as well as King Lear and The Seagull to the New London Theatre, both starring Ian McKellen.

Meanwhile, in Stratford, Gregory Doran will revive his production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and direct Tennant in both Hamlet and Love’s Labour’s Lost, in which he will play Hamlet and Berowne respectively. Patrick Stewart will also feature as Claudius in Hamlet, while an ensemble of actors will be cross-cast across all three plays. It is expected that Hamlet will later transfer to London.

Also in the Courtyard Theatre - the RSC’s temporary home in Stratford while the Royal Shakespeare Theatre is redesigned - Tim Caroll will direct The Merchant of Venice, while Conall Morrison will use the same group of performers in his production of The Taming of the Shrew.

“2008 will see the future shape of the RSC begin to emerge,” commented Boyd. “The Histories Ensemble is proving that the imaginative power which grows among a group of actors working together for an extended period can be something special. These actors have confirmed my faith in the ensemble principle, which is at the heart of my ambitions for the RSC. 

“In 2008 we will have three companies of actors all embracing the creative security which ensemble offers, whilst taking risks with the courage it fosters. These companies will pursue deeper artistic enquiry into Shakespeare and sharpen their wits on the high-wire challenge of new work. It’s one of our important strengths that we can allow actors the time and space to develop, learn and experiment.”

The company’s new work in London will feature a play by Adriano Shaplin, The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes, dealing with the clash between God and science, as well as The Cordelia Dream by Marina Carr - a two-hander inspired by King Lear.

These join the already announced I’ll be the Devil by Leo Butler and Days of Significance by Roy Williams, both at the Tricycle, and a new, as yet untitled, work by Anthony Nielson at the Soho Theatre. A large scale new play is also being developed for the Courtyard, although details are yet to be announced. Dominic Cooke will also take an adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s Nought’s & Crosses on a tour - dates and venues are yet to be announced.

RSC literary manager Jeanie O’Hare added: “The RSC is fast becoming a haven for living dramatists. We initiate and nurture the work of writers who want to write epic plays, who are keen to re-establish the creative relationship between writer and actor, who want to devise new work, and spend time in the rehearsal room engaging with our classical productions. When we began we thought this would be a slow burn project, but results are already emerging. Writers are desperate to flex their muscles and write for big stages.

“Our long term ambition is to generate plays which can earn a place in our repertoire and also earn a decent living for the writer. Writers are actively encouraged to plunder Shakespearean dramaturgy and to take a leading role within the contemporary RSC.”