RSC Brings Goold's ROMEO AND JULIET et al. to Lincoln Center '11

The Royal Shakespeare Company's 44 member acting ensemble will perform five plays by William Shakespeare at Park Avenue Armory as part of Lincoln Center Festival next summer. Lincoln Center Festival and Park Avenue Armory, in association with The Ohio State University, are bringing the Royal Shakespeare Company to New York for this six-week engagement. This unprecedented theatrical event takes place July 6 through August 14, 2011.

All five productions are currently playing in repertoire to critical praise at the Company's home in Stratford-upon-Avon. Included are: As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Winter's Tale. The Lincoln Center Festival performances will be the only opportunity American audiences will have to see these highly acclaimed productions performed by an acting company at the culmination of three years of working together, playing multiple roles, in the same ensemble acting tradition that characterized the troupes in Shakespeare's time.

These five plays will be performed on a specially-built thrust-stage based on the newly transformed Royal Shakespeare Theatre, where the audience is wrapped around three sides of the action bringing actors and audiences closer together.

At this time, access to tickets is guaranteed by purchasing a premium package. Email Shakespeare2011@lincolncenter.org or call 212-875-5739 for information. Public on-sale dates for all five plays will be announced in the fall. Visit www.LincolnCenterFestival.org/rsc for further details.

The Royal Shakespeare Company is appearing with the permission of Actors' Equity Association. The Royal Shakespeare Company gratefully acknowledges Actors' Equity Association for its assistance on this production.

The residency begins on July 6 with As You Like It. Shakespeare's delightful comedy of disguised identity and wooing by proxy is directed by RSC Artistic Director Michael Boyd, whose production reflects the play's somber historical context while capturing the liberating power of love. The production features Katy Stephens as an "excellent" Rosalind/Ganymede; Jonjo O'Neill as Orlando; Richard Katz as Touchstone; Mariah Gale as Celia; Geoffrey Freshwater as Corin; Forbes Masson as Jaques; Clarence Smith as Duke Ferdinand; Sandy Neilson as Duke Frederick; Charles Aitken as Oliver; James Tucker as Silvius, and Christine Entwisle as Phoebe.

Rupert Goold's savagely hectic production of Romeo and Juliet has been praised as an impetuous anthem for doomed youth. It is set in a torch-lit, Catholic world, where impulses reign and people act before they think. Performances begin on July 10. Sam Troughton and Mariah Gale play the fated lovers. Also in the cast are Forbes Masson as Friar Lawrence; Joseph Arkley as Tybalt; James Howard as Paris; Jonjo O'Neill as Mercutio; Noma Dumezweni as the Nurse; Richard Katz as Lord Capulet; Oliver Ryan as Benvolio; Christine Entwisle as Lady Capulet; and David Carr as Escalus.

Greg Hicks has won unanimous critical praise for his ghost-like Lear, the aged king who earns his fate because of his shallow demand for love in words rather than actions, in David Farr's production of King Lear which begins performances on July 15. The cast includes Kathryn Hunter as The Fool; Charles Aitken as Edgar; Geoffrey Freshwater as Gloucester; Darrell D'Silva as Kent; Samantha Young as Cordelia; Kelly Hunter as Goneril; Katy Stephens as Regan; John Mackay as Duke of Albany; Clarence Smith as Duke of Cornwall; James Tucker as Oswald; and Tunji Kasim as Edmund.

David Farr's magical production of The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare's most emotionally complex and theatrical play, which he wrote before he left London to return to his native Stratford for good, begins performances on July 21. The critics praised Greg Hicks for his Leontes as well as Kelly Hunter for her impressive, emotionally drained Hermione. The cast also includes Darrell D'Silva as
Polixenes; Samantha Young as Perdita; Tunji Kasim as Florizel; Brian Doherty as Autolycus; James Gale as Antigonus; Noma Dumezweni as Paulina; Larrington Walker as the Old Shepherd; John Mackay as Camillo; and Gruffudd Gyn as Young Shepherd.

Michael Boyd's funny and fast-moving, modern-dress production of Antony and Cleopatra begins on July 28. Critics praised Kathryn Hunter, who plays Cleopatra, as one of the most extraordinary actresses of the British stage and the production as a fascinating examination of the devious intricacies of politics and a wry examination of the wonder and absurdities of love in middle age, ascending to the tragic heights of some of the most sublime verse Shakespeare ever wrote. Darrell D'Silva plays Antony as a grizzled, overwrought old ruffian with reckless charm and flawed humanity. The cast also includes John Mackay as Caesar; Brian Doherty as Enobarbus; Clarence Smith as Pompey; and Hannah Young as Charmian.

Actors in the RSC 2009-2011 ensemble are: Charles Aitken; Joseph Arkley; Adam Burton; David Carr; Brian Doherty; Darrell D'Silva; Noma Dumezweni; Dyfan Dwyfor; Phillip Edgerley; Christine Entwisle; Geoffrey Freshwater; James Gale; Mariah Gale; Gruffudd Glyn; Paul Hamilton; Greg Hicks; James Howard; Kathryn Hunter; Kelly Hunter; Ansu Kabia; Tunji Kasim; Richard Katz; Debbie Korley; John Mackay; Forbes Masson; Sandy Neilson; Jonjo O'Neill; Dharmesh Patel; Peter Peverley; Patrick Romer; David Rubin; Sophie Russell; Oliver Ryan; Simone Saunders; Peter Shorey; Clarence Smith; Katy Stephens; James Traherne; Sam Troughton; James Tucker; Larrington Walker; Kirsty Woodward; Hannah Young; and Samantha Young.

Directors and Designers in the RSC 2009-2011 company are: Jon Bausor (Designer); Michael Boyd (Director); Jean Chan (Designer); David Farr (Director); Rupert Goold (Director); Tom Piper (Designer); Tom Scutt (Designer); and Michael Vale (Designer).

RSC residency at Lincoln Center Festival 2011 by order of opening nights:

As You Like It
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Michael Boyd, RSC Artistic Director
Preview: July 6 at 7:30 PM; Opens: July 7 at 7:30 PM (Press Night);
Performance schedule: July 8 at 7:30 PM; July 9 at 1:30 and 7:30 PM; July 23 at 7:30 PM; July 31 at 1:30 PM; August 6 at 1:30 PM; August 14 at 7:30 PM

Romeo and Juliet
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Rupert Goold, RSC Associate Director
Preview: July 10 at 7:30 PM; Opens July 11 at 7:30 PM (Press Night);
Performance schedule: July 12 at 1:30 PM ; July 17 at 7:30 PM; July 24 at 7:30 PM; August 3 at 7:30 PM; August 5 at 7:30 PM; August 11 at 7:30 PM; August 12 at 1:30 PM; August 13 at 1:30 PM

King Lear
By William Shakespeare
Directed by David Farr, RSC Associate Director
Preview: July 15 at 7:30 PM; Opens: July 16 at 7:30 PM (Press Night)
Performance schedule: July 17 at 1:30 PM; July 24 at 1:30 PM; July 30 at 7:30 PM; August 5 at 1:30 PM; August 6 at 7:30 PM; August 10 at 1:30 PM; August 12 at 7:30 PM

The Winter's Tale
By William Shakespeare
Directed by David Farr, RSC Associate Director
Preview: July 21 at 7:30 PM; Opens: July 22 at 7:30 PM (Press Night);
Performance schedule: July 23 at 1:30 PM; July 31 at 7:30 PM; August 2 at 7:30 PM; August 3 at 1:30 PM; August 7 at 7:30 PM; August 9 at 7:30 PM; August 14 at 1:30 PM

Antony and Cleopatra
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Michael Boyd, RSC Artistic Director
Preview: July 28 at 7:30 PM; Opens: July 29 at 7:30 PM (Press Night);
Performance schedule: July 30 at 1:30 PM; August 4 at 7:30 PM; August 7 at 1:30 PM; August 10 at 7:30 PM; August 13 at 7:30 PM