Erica Whyman News

It has been reported that acclaimed stage actor Sir Antony Sher has been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

The season will feature Shakespeare's Measure for Measure directed by Blanche McIntyre, Hamlet directed by Sean Holmes, The Merchant of Venice directed by Abigail Graham, and a festive reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen's The Fir Tree written by Hannah Khalil. Alongside productions in the Playhouse, there will also be two week-long festivals (including the return of Shakespeare and Race) and half-term events for families.

Faith has always been part of Coventry's story, from its medieval monasteries and Mystery Plays, to welcoming refugees fleeing religious persecution through the years, such as the Huguenots who brought silk weaving with them to the city.

Tickets, which are free, will be available to book for pre-registered audiences on Friday 20th August, with general on-sale on Friday 27th August. Casting information to be confirmed. Learn more about the production here!

With a £250,000 contribution from Galliard towards its fit out, the 503Studio at Nine Elms will include a rehearsal suite, multi-purpose event spaces, a creative area for writers including desks and a reading room, as well as housing the administrative offices of Theatre503.

A filmed adaptation of The Winter’s Tale will be broadcast on BBC Four on Sunday 25 April 2021 at 7pm, celebrating Shakespeare’s birthday weekend and marking the first time in RSC history that a production will have a televised World Premiere.

With the one-year anniversary of theatres being forced to close in sight, the Royal Shakespeare Company has announced that audiences will now get the chance to see The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors, two of its postponed 2020 major Shakespeare productions.

The Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) 2018 production of Romeo and Juliet will be broadcast on BBC Two at 2pm on Tuesday 9 February as part of the BBC's Lockdown Learning's Shakespeare Week.  The production will then be available on BBC iPlayer for 60 days.  

The Royal Shakespeare Company is offering a large number of free Shakespeare-related resources to students currently learning at home, and to teachers looking to create lesson plans to deliver online.

Broadcasted mere hours after the change in Christmas COVID restrictions in the UK, the RSC’s Festive Tales brings some much-needed escapism. We are met with an empty theatre dotted with candles in lanterns and a lone voice singing a carol. It really magnifies the emptiness of our performance spaces at the moment.

Theatre503 announced US playwright and activist Pravin Wilkins as the winner of the 2020 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award. Pravin accepted the Award from his home in Pittsburgh at an online event attended Theatre503's community of writers, industry & friends, hosted by the theatre's Chair Erica Whyman and Artistic Director Lisa Spirling.

Five outstanding new writers from the UK, Australia and the US are the finalists for the 2020 Theatre503 International Playwriting. Ayad Andrews, Gina Stevensen, Pravin Wilkins, Safaa Benson-Effiom and Zoe Ashford Cooper were chosen from 1,719 scripts sent in from 45 countries.

The Royal Shakespeare Company has today announced that Juliet Gilkes Romero's urgent and provocative new play, The Whip, will receive its online premiere this October as part of Black History Month. The new audio recording is commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and directed by Kimberley Sykes.

Blackpool residents channel spirit of Shakespeare's Henry V in stirring new theatre piece inspired by the hopes and fears of communities leaving lockdown for the first time.

The UK Government has announced a £1.57 billion rescue package to help the nation's cultural, arts and heritage institutions weather the impact of the health crisis.  Arts institutions are responding to this announcement, including the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, and more!

The Royal Shakespeare Company production of Romeo and Juliet (2019) will be broadcast on BBC Four at 9pm on Sunday 7 June as part of Culture in Quarantine, it was announced today.

As part of the newly launched Royal Shakespeare Community initiative, artists from the Royal Shakespeare Company, who are currently unable to rehearse or perform, will lend a hand in helping to unlock Shakespeare for thousands of children and young people studying at home.

Following the world premiere at Stratford a?"upon-Avon, Kiln Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company today announce the full cast for the London run of A Museum in Baghdad. Director Erica Whyman reunites David Birrell (Professor Leonard Woolley), Houda Echouafni (Layla Hassan), Emma Fielding (Gertrude Bell), Ali Gadema (Kidnapper, Prime Minister), Rendah Heywood (Ghalia Hussein), Zed Josef (Salim), Nadi Kemp-Sayfi (Nasiya), Debbie Korley (Sam York), Riad Richie (Mohammed Abdullah), and Rasoul Saghir (Abu Zaman). The production opens at Kiln Theatre on 28 April, with previews from 22 April, and runs until 23 May.

Casting details have been announced for the Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) 2020 Summer production of The Winter's Tale, which plays in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 28 March 2020. Directed by RSC Deputy Artistic Director, Erica Whyman, the production will be cross-cast with The Comedy of Errors (from 25 April 2020) and Pericles (from 15 August 2020). All three plays are sponsored by Darwin Escapes.

The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, has introduced chilled performances to its programme, with the first one taking place next month (February).