The world’s theatrical spotlight shined on Stratford-upon-Avon, England, on Friday, March 4, when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new theater.

The occasion marked the culmination of a three-and-a-half-year, 183.2 million-dollar building project. I visited Stratford the week before to tour the new theater and see some Shakespeare. What I found reinforced for me the value and wonder of the Bard’s legacy.
“You’ll find what we call “ghosts in the walls” in the new theater,” said guide Nikki Smith as she and her fellow guide David Mears led our group of about 12 visitors on a tour. “We’ve tried to keep old and new together.”

In fact, the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre sits within the shell of the old theater, which was designed by British architect Elizabeth Scott and built in 1932. “We’ve kept some elements of the old theater,” said Smith, as we gathered in the Scott Bar, which stands where the former entrance used to be. She pointed to a metal structure that looked like an art deco sculpture on the wall above us. “That’s the old box office,” she said. “We can lower it and use it when we have big crowds.”

As she led us toward the theater-within-a-theater, Smith indicated the floor. “The 1932 stage is now the floor of the front of the house,” she said. “If you look at the teak boards, you might see markings that once showed the actors where to stand.” On one wall we could see the outline of a former staircase and the projected images of previous RSC productions.

Then we entered the new theater, and in a way, it felt as though we were back in Elizabethan England. The new playhouse is horseshoe-shaped with a thrust stage and seats on three levels. Theaters in Shakespeare’s day had a similar design, minus a roof and all that high-tech lighting equipment.

“The 1932 theater had a proscenium arch and seated about 1,000 people,” said Mears, as we took seats facing the thrust stage. “Some seats were as far as 27 meters from the stage [about 88 feet]. This theater also seats 1,000, but the farthest seat is only 15 meters from the stage [about 49 feet], and 85 percent of the seats are no farther away than 10 meters [about 33 feet].”

The arrangement gives the theater an intimate feel. The design also helps the sound, so the actors don’t have to shout to be heard in the last rows. “There are no pockets of air where sound can escape,” said Mears, showing the oak paneling that was installed for good acoustics. The amount of maths that’s gone into this building is astounding.”

The tour included behind-the-scenes looks at the dressing rooms, costume department, and the light-and-sound control room. We also looked at the Swan Theatre, a smaller space that’s connected to the main theater.

The original Swan Theatre was built in 1879 but burned. Behind the ornate red brick façade that was left standing, the RSC built a new Swan Theatre in 1986. Like the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre, this space is also horseshoe-shaped, but smaller, seating 460. “The actors have always loved working in this theater, and the success of the Swan is part of what inspired the RSC to use a similar concept in the new larger theater,” said Mears.

Both theaters create ideal settings for Shakespeare, and during my visit I saw two RSC productions. At the Swan, I saw a 90-minute Hamlet, one of the shortened versions of Shakespeare’s plays that the RSC performs in schools. This production used music and innovative staging that made the play accessible to children and adults. Umbrellas sometimes became rifles or swords, for example, and two actors played Rosencrantz and Guildenstern like a vaudeville comedy team.

At one point, an actress asked for a volunteer from among the kids in the audience. A girl who looked to be about 8 years old raised her hand. She came onstage, and the actress told her to pretend to be one of the players Hamlet gives direction to. Dharmesh Patel as Hamlet came out, kneeled down, and spoke directly to the girl as he said, “Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue. . .” As she’d been instructed, the young girl said, “I will, my lord,” and bowed. It was the most real moment in the play for Patel, and the girl beamed at the applause she got.

Another night, I saw King Lear—a powerful production headed by Greg Hicks as Lear. Hicks found nuances in the character that are sometimes overlooked by actors who bluster through the role. Charles Aitken stood out by bringing to the role of Edgar an intensity and sense of truth that mesmerized the audience.

As I watched, I thought about how relevant Shakespeare’s words remain. The family tensions, the political intrigue, the conflicts and passions depicted in this play resonate today.

Seeing productions such as these is reason enough to visit Stratford-upon-Avon. In redoing the theaters, the RSC also added a Rooftop Restaurant and a 36-meter-high [about 118 feet] Tower where visitors can view the Warwickshire countryside, making the entire theater complex a compelling destination. As if that weren’t enough, when you visit Stratford, you can walk in Shakespeare’s footsteps. I’ll have more about that in a future report.

When You Go:
Theater tours last about one hour, cost 6.50 pounds (about $9) and are offered year-round. For tour reservations and theater tickets, go to www.rsc.org.uk. For more information about Stratford-upon-Avon, go to www.visitengland.us.

What’s the best production of Shakespeare you’ve ever seen? Let us know in the comments below.
Photos by Peter Cook