Royal Mail Launches Royal Shakespeare Company Stamp Set

Royal Mail is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Royal Shakespeare Company on a new set of ten stamps issued today, April 12.

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) stamps see six productions take centre stage, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest, amongst others. The stamps each feature a defining scene from an RSC production alongside a famous quote from each play.

The stamp issue marks 50 years since Sir Peter Hall founded the RSC. Over the last half a century the RSC has staged Shakespeare plays across the UK, and has also taken productions on tour around the UK and worldwide.

Other plays celebrated in the stamp issue include Henry VI, King Lear and A Midsummer Night's Dream. An additional four stamps complete the stamp set and are printed in a miniature sheet depicting a collage of the RSC's theatres in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Philip Parker, Royal Mail Stamps spokesperson, said: "We wanted to mark this important anniversary by producing stamps which reflect the drama and excitement generated through Royal Shakespeare Company productions over the past five decades."

Michael Boyd, Royal Shakespeare Company, Artistic Director, said: "I am delighTed Royal Mail has chosen to celebrate our 50th birthday with this set of stamps. It has been an almost impossible job to sift through fifty years of performances to choose images which represent the extraordinary range of work we have produced. I hope people will enjoy what they see and join us in Stratford or on tour in the future."

This month the RSC begins a year long 50th birthday season of new productions. The first new production in the transformed Royal Shakespeare Theatre is Michael Boyd's Macbeth, which commences on 16 April.

To view the full set of stamps, click here.

 

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