RSC's Stratford-Upon-Avon Winter 2015 Artistic Programme to Feature HENRY V, WENDY & PETER PAN and More

Royal Shakespeare Company has announed its Stratford-Upon Avon winter 2015 artistic program, including making the 600th anniversary of Agincourt and continues Shakespeare's Histories with Gregory Doran's production of Henry V, also screened 'Live from Stratford-upon-Avon' to cinemas and schools, Jonathan Munby's acclaimed production of Ella Hickson's Wendy & Peter Pan returns to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, two new plays premiere in the Swan Theatre - Hecuba by Marina Carr, directed by Erica Whyman, and Queen Anne by Helen Edmundson, directed by Natalie Abrahami and Congreve's Love for Love - first RSC staging of this glorious Restoration Comedy, directed by Selina Cadell.

Shakespeare's Song Competition for Shakespeare's Birthday April 2015

National competition launched to find new musical compositions for some of Shakespeare's best loved songs. The winning piece will be performed live at Shakespeare's Birthday Bash on 26 April 2015.

King Lear is paired with Death of a Salesman and announced as one of the RSC's major titles for 2016

RSC pairs America's greatest tragedy with Shakespeare's King Lear. Gregory Doran opens his current production of Death of a Salesman in March 2015 on the main stage in Stratford to mark the centenary of Arthur Miller's birth and will direct King Lear in the 400th anniversary year of Shakespeare's death to complement Miller's great play. King Lear will open in the summer of 2016 and RSC Associate Artist, Antony Sher, takes the lead role in both productions.

Transforming the RSC's Stratford home for 2016

Reopening The Other Place

Work begins this month to completely reimagine The Other Place as a creative hub for our actors and visiting theatre-makers to research, develop and rehearse. It will include a new festival theatre to showcase the RSC's most daring and experimental new work, which will reopen in 2016, alongside new rehearsal spaces and the RSC's costume store, open to the public for the first time. The design team is being led by Ian Ritchie Architects in close collaboration with Design Consultant, Tom Piper.

The theatre has been made possible thanks to the support of private and public funders, including very generous donations from The Gatsby Charitable Foundation and The Backstage Trust, a £3 million Lottery grant from Arts Council England and a new creative collaboration with the University of Birmingham, Founding Partner of The Other Place.

The five year collaboration with the University of Birmingham and their Shakespeare Institute will develop a laboratory for theatre artists working with scholars and students, with three practice-led research projects each year. Students will also benefit from access to the RSC's creative teams and the new spaces. Further information at http://www.rsc.org.uk/about-us/press/releases/the-other-place-to-return-in-2016.aspx

Swan Wing and new exhibition

Work has also begun to restore the oldest part of the Company's theatres in Stratford-upon-Avon, and create a new exhibition, which will immerse visitors in the RSC's rich history and showcase how the Company makes its world famous productions. The project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund with generous support from the Garfield Weston Foundation, The Wolfson Foundation and many other supporters. The restored Grade II* listed Swan Wing and the exhibition will open in 2016. Performances will continue in the Swan Theatre throughout the project. Further information at: http://www.rsc.org.uk/about-us/press/releases/swan-wing-restoration.aspx

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE

Henry V, directed by Gregory Doran - 12 September to 25 October 2015 (and 'Live from Stratford-upon-Avon' - 21 October 2015)

Press Night: Tuesday 22 September 7pm

The Winter 2015 season in the main house opens with Henry V, the fourth in the series of Shakespeare's History Plays directed by Artistic Director, Gregory Doran.

Alex Hassell, who played Prince Hal in Henry IV Parts I & II, becomes King Henry V, the monarch who led England to victory in the Battle of Agincourt. The production marks the 600th anniversary of the battle, which took place on 25 October 1415. It will be designed by RSC Director of Design, Stephen Brimson Lewis, with lighting by Tim Mitchell, music by Paul Englishby and sound by Martin Slavin.

It will also be screened live to cinemas worldwide on 21 October 2015 as part of the RSC's 'Live from Stratford-upon-Avon' series, with Picturehouse Entertainment, and streamed free of charge into schools across the UK, with supporting education materials and a live pre- and post-show interactive discussion with students. International encore dates will be announced later.

As part of the RSC's events programme to get closer to Shakespeare and the world of the RSC, the Stage Fight Club is launched. This will be a fun informal 10 week class for over 18s from 23 September, run by RSC Associate Practitioner and Stage Combat Instructor, Tom Jordan.

Henry V is supported by The Mark Pigott KBE family

Wendy & Peter Pan - by Ella Hickson, adapted from the novel by JM Barrie, directed by Jonathan Munby - 17 November 2015 to 31 January 2016

Press Night: Wednesday 25 November 7pm

Ella Hickson's retelling of JM Barrie's much loved book, Wendy & Peter Pan, is revived for family audiences at the end of the year. This critically acclaimed and spectacular production played to packed houses in 2013 and will be revived with the original set and costumes. It will be directed, as before, by Jonathan Munby, designed by Colin Richmond and lit by Oliver Fenwick.

There will be a Relaxed Performance on 28 January 2016, specially designed for children and young people with autism, learning disabilities and sensory and communication disorders, and anyone who would benefit from a more relaxed environment.

By popular demand, Davy and Kristin McGuire's magical 'Sprite Symphony' exhibition also returns this winter, bringing a Victorian specimen cabinet to life, with fairies fluttering throughout the building.

SWAN THEATRE

Hecuba by Marina Carr, directed by Erica Whyman - 17 September to 17 October 2015

Press Night: Thursday 24 September 7pm

Deputy Artistic Director, Erica Whyman, continues the RSC's commitment to explore questions of gender and power which the Company ignited with the 'Roaring Girls'. This searing new commission by Marina Carr explores war, womanhood and regime change.

Troy has fallen. Humiliated by her defeat and imprisoned by the charismatic victor Agamemnon, the great queen Hecuba must wash the blood of her buried sons from her hands and lead her daughters forward into a world they no longer recognise. Agamemnon has slaughtered his own daughter to win this war, but another sacrifice is now demanded. In a world where human instinct has been ravaged by violence, is everything as it seems in the hearts of the winners and those they have defeated?

Marina Carr reimagines Euripides' Hecuba through many voices in a visceral new play. This is the second she has written for the RSC, following her two-hander The Cordelia Dream, performed as part of the Company's residency at Wilton's Music Hall in London in 2008/9. Marina's best known play is By the Bog of Cats (Abbey, Dublin and Wyndham's Theatre, London). Her awards include the Irish Playwright Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Award.

Love for Love, by William Congreve, directed by Selina Cadell - 28 October 2015 to22 January 2016

Press Night: Wednesday 4 November 7pm

This will be the first production of this play by the RSC and only the second Congreve play ever to be performed by the Company. Love for Love is a glorious Restoration comedy, where love for love is stronger than love for money.

Valentine, Sir Sampson's dissolute eldest son, finds himself at a standstill; the only way out of his financial difficulties is to give in to his father's pressure to sign over his right of inheritance to his younger brother. Seeing a chance to escape his debtors, Valentine accepts the deal, but, fearing he will now be spurned by his beloved Angelica, takes drastic action to ensure he retains what is rightfully his. Selina Cadell makes her RSC directorial debut with this production, after directing The Rivals at the Arcola Theatre last year. Tom Piper will design the set, Rosalind Ebbutt, the costumes, Vince Herbert, the lighting, and sound will be by Claire Windsor.

Queen Anne by Helen Edmundson, directed by Natalie Abrahami - 19 November 2015 to 23 January 2016

Press Night: Thursday 26 November 7pm

After her acclaimed new play, The Heresy of Love, premiered in the Swan Theatre in 2012, Helen Edmundson was commissioned by the RSC to write this gripping play about the relationship between Queen Anne and the Duchess of Marlborough.

1702. William III is on the throne and England is on the verge of war. Princess Anne is soon to become Queen and her advisors vie for influence over the future monarch. Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, a close friend with whom Anne has an intensely personal relationship, begins to exert increasing pressure as she pursues her own designs on power. Contending with deceit and blackmail, Anne must decide where her allegiances lie, and whether to sacrifice her closest relationships for the sake of the country.

Natalie Abrahami is an Associate Director at the Young Vic and Associate Artist at Hull Truck Theatre and was joint Artistic Director at the Gate in London from 2007 to 2012. She makes her RSC directing debut with this production.

Gregory Doran, RSC Artistic Director, said:

"Our winter season pits love against war. We mark the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt with Henry V, continuing our journey through Shakespeare's History Plays and exploring Prince Hal's new-found power and responsibility as King of England, following the death of his father, King Henry IV.

"Taking a look at conflict through other eyes, we have commissioned Marina Carr to write a play about the defeated queen, Hecuba, wife of King Priam of Troy and mother of Hector, Paris and Cassandra. Erica Whyman will direct this re-imagining of Euripides' great tragedy, which considers what price we are prepared to pay for victory.

"We will follow this in the Swan Theatre with two fascinating plays, celebrating the 18th Century. First is the extraordinary story of another queen, Queen Anne, and her very close relationship with the Duchess of Marlborough. Helen Edmundson weaves a tale of secrets and intrigue in her new play, directed by Natalie Abrahami.

"Queen Anne will play in repertoire with William Congreve's Love for Love, directed by Selina Cadell. We have never performed this before - and indeed have only ever staged one Congreve play. I am delighted we continue to use the Swan stage to bring lesser-known classics to a contemporary audience.

"I am also very pleased that we are finally getting underway with the reinstatement of The Other Place. We are delighted to have been awarded an Arts Lottery grant of £3m. Thanks to this generous grant and the support of a number of key donors, we aim to reopen The Other Place as part of our 2016 programme, marking the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. We have also announced a new collaboration with the University of Birmingham and their Shakespeare Institute. We have had a long and happy association with the Institute and this new arrangement will bring their students closer to our creative teams and help make our R&D programme sing.

"We want to make Stratford the most exciting destination in the UK for audiences of all kinds in 2016 and this marks a key moment on that journey, along with the restoration and new exhibition planned for the Swan Wing.

"Meanwhile, we have a rich programme for 2015. I am rehearsing Death of a Salesman, with Antony Sher, Harriet Walter and Alex Hassell, which opens in April to mark the centenary of Arthur Miller's birth. We are coupling this with King Lear in 2016, with Antony Sher playing both tragic leads.

"Death of a Salesman is without doubt, in my mind, the greatest American play of the 20th Century. One of the reasons I feel justified in presenting this greatest of American tragedies in our main house on Shakespeare's Birthday this year, is that it sits in its rightful place on our stage alongside Shakespeare's greatest works. By linking it with King Lear, in sequence, with the same leading actor, and director, we assert that. After the success of Dominic Cooke's production of The Crucible in 2006, I am delighted to be presenting Arthur Miller on the Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage in this centenary year."

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