B&B near the RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon.  The Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Only a few minutes walk along the banks of the River Avon. The RSC have performances 
most of the year. Hamlet, Midsummer Nights Dream and Taming of the Shrew to name but a few. 

The Courtyard Theatre is close to Avonpark Guest House. This is the temporary home of the RSC, whilst the main theatre is being refurbished to 
present a world class venue. See famous names such as David Tennant and Patrick Stewart grace the boards. How about a shopping trip in the 
many small boutiques in Stratford, followed by dinner and the Theatre.


    
 
      
 
        
 
        
"Home of The Royal Shakespeare 
          Company, the centre of the Shakesperian world. " In 2008 David Tennant joins the company.
  
 

    
 
      
 
        
"Here you will find the finest actors 
        and Directors working on great plays in some of the best theatre space 
        in the world. " 

  
 

    
 
      
"The RSC in Stratford offers 
        three theatres providing an elaborate range of drama, ancient and modern, 
        classic and contemporary. " 
  
 
 
 













    

      
See whats 
        on" at the RSC
  
If however you just want to find out more about William Shakespeare (the Bard), you can visit Mary Arden's House, Halls Croft,
 Ann Hathaways Cottage, Shakespeare's Birthplace or Nash's House. To find out more click below.
www.shakespeare.org.uk

Dress Code for The RSC Theatre
There is no formal code for visitors, but smart dress is expected. Foreign visitors travelling light, will be quite presentable, if wearing 
smart shirt and trousers and proper shoes. Jeans and trainers (sneakers) will raise eyebrows !
Press Release
Hamlet will see the return of David Tennant to the RSC in the title role. Now best known as the latest incarnation of Dr Who on TV, 
David has appeared at the RSC in two previous seasons; in 1996/7 in As You Like It (Touchstone), The General From America and 
The Herbal Bed, and then in 2000/1 in The Comedy of Errors, The Rivals and playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. 

Patrick Stewart returns to the company to play Claudius. His last RSC season was as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra and Prospero in 
The Tempest as part of the Complete Works Festival. Since then, he has been at the Chichester Festival Theatre playing Malvolio in 
Twelfth Night and the title role in Macbeth, which is transferring to the West End this month.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream will play in repertoire with The Taming of the Shrew and The Merchant of Venice through the spring and 
early summer. Hamlet and Love’s Labour’s Lost, with David Tennant in the role of Berowne, will then join the repertoire until
November 2008 (see press night diary).

The Courtyard Theatre
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Directed by Gregory Doran
from 9 May - 13 November 2008.

A feast of magic, music, humour and spectacle, A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of Shakespeare's best-loved 
comedies. The boundaries between reality and imagination merge as the characters find themselves caught in 
a web of magic in the Athenian woods. This production revives Gregory Doran's hugely popular and critically
 acclaimed show from the 2005 Comedies Season.
'Magical delight...a bewitching blend of the dark and the lovely'
Times
'Gregory Doran's sparkling night of midsummer madness...sweet dreams indeed'
Evening Standard

Joe Dixon, who played Oberon in the 2005 production, returns to the Company to take the role of Bottom. His 
other RSC credits include Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors, also part of the 2005 Comedies 
Season, as well as Paris in The Roman Actor (2003) and Mendoza in The Malcontent (2002). The role of Oberon 
will be played by Peter de Jersey, who last performed with the Company as Antiochus in Believe What You Will,
vander in A New Way To Please You and Macro in Sejanus: His Fall, all as part of the 2005 Gunpowder Season. 
Also returning to the Company is Mark Hadfield, who takes the role of Puck following his most recent RSC
 performance as Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales (2005). Mark's other theatre credits include 39 Steps for 
Yorkshire Playhouse and Don Juan for the Peter Hall Company, as well as his recent performance as Grivet
 in the National Theatre's production of Therese Raquin. 
Making her RSC debut as Hermia is Kathryn Drysdale. Perhaps best known for her role as Louise in BBC 2’s 
comedy Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, she has also recently appeared in the film St Trinian's,
 as well as performing in Catch at the Royal Court Theatre.

Hamlet
Hamlet directed by Gregory Doran 
from 24 July - 15 November 2008
Shakespeare's great tragedy of a young man haunted by his father's ghost and driven to the edge of madness 
his obsession to avenge his death.David Tennant returns to the RSC to play the title role, directed by RSC 
Chief Associate Director Gregory Doran. David last appeared with the RSC as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and 
Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors in 2000. As well as acting extensively on the stage, most 
recently in The Pillowman at the National Theatre, David has become a household name as the tenth actor to 
portray Dr Who. His other TV and film role include Casanova, Blackpool, Bright Young Things and Barty 
Crouch Jr in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This season he also appears as Berowne in Love's Labour's 
Lost. Patrick Stewart returns to the RSC to play Claudius. He last appeared with the Company to great
acclaim during the Complete Works Festival as Antony in Antony and Cleopatra and Prospero in The Tempest.

Love’s Labour’s Lost
Directed by Gregory Doran
from 2 October - 15 November 2008.


The King of Navarre and the nobles of his court vow to study, fast, sleep little and see no ladies for 
three years. However, when the Princess of France and her ladies arrive in the kingdom, the Lords discover
 their resolve is more difficult to keep than they first imagined. Shakespeare's rarely performed, exuberant 
comedy explores the power of love over reason. Love's Labour's Lost is directed by RSC Chief Associate
Director Gregory Doran. His most recent productions for the RSC include Coriolanus, the final production in
 the Royal Shakespeare Theatre prior to transformation, Merry Wives The Musical, Venus and Adonis and Antony
 and Cleopatra, all part of the Complete Works Festival. This season he also directs Hamlet and a revival of
 A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The ensemble includes David Tennant.


Romeo and Juliet 
directed by Neil Bartlett.
 from 27 November 2008 - 24 January 2009
In a society dominated by religion and bound by ties of strict family loyalty, two teenagers are trapped by 
their secret love. As a dangerous vendetta spills on to the streets, the young lovers are forced to risk all
 to be together. This boldly theatrical staging combines an ensemble of 30 actors and musicians with some of
 the most hot-blooded poetry ever written in Shakespeare's fast-paced tragedy of thwarted love. Neil Bartlett
 and designer Kandis Cook, the creative team behind last year's acclaimed Twelfth Night, return to the RSC 
to direct Shakespeare's enduringly popular Romeo and Juliet. 

Don John
from 12 December 2008 - 10 January 2009.

Kneehigh Theatre in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company. 
England, 1978. The Winter of Discontent. Cold hearts seek comfort and poor souls look for love.
A woman nurses her dying father; a cleaner greedily devours her open university course in the fight for a 
better life; a career woman seeks the path that her life never took, and the loyal friend, always in the 
shadows, fears he will disappear one day and no-one will notice. We are in the lonely heart’s column of life
and ‘Save me’ is the silent call that drifts from their aching bodies. But wait. Help is on hand. Don John 
is here! Dangerous, naughty and irresistible, Don John is a vessel for all our desires – a delicious chancer.
He enters our lives and leaves us changed. Oh yes, he leaves us, for Don John belongs to nobody but himself 
and the devil! With a sensational score of specially commissioned music, Kneehigh bring their renowned brand
of physical storytelling to this sexy tale. After their sell-out production of Cymbeline delighted audiences 
during the 2006 Complete Works Festival, Kneehigh return to Stratford-upon-Avon with a with a new production 
that promises to be visually stunning, anarchic and intoxicating. Kneehigh are a driving force in 
contemporary British theatre. Their joyous, compelling and physical storytelling has entranced audiences 
throughout the UK with productions including Tristan & Yseult, Nights at the Circus, Rapunzel and Brief 
Encounter, currently playing in the West End.

The Winter's Tale 
31 March-3 October 2009
In The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare strips away the trappings of a man's success in a bewitchingly beautiful 
eploration of what constitutes true happiness. Newly appointed RSC Associate Director David Farr returns to 
the RSC following his acclaimed Julius Caesar in 2004  -  

 As You Like It
 18 April-3 October 2009
Traditional rules of romance are subverted as exiled lovers become entangled in a beguiling game of love,
lust and mistaken identity in the Forest of Arden. RSC Artistic Director Michael Boyd directs the new RSC 
Ensemble in one of Shakespeare's great comedies  -  
 
 Julius Caesar 
15 May-2 October 2009
As Caesar's popularity looks set to propel him to the imperial throne, those closest to him act to prevent 
dictatorship only for their brutal assassination to bring bloody civil war.Lucy Bailey joins the RSC for the
 first time to direct Shakespeare's masterpiece of political powerplay  -  
 
 The Drunks 
21 August-1 October 2009
Launching Other Russia - a new strand of work exploring Russian theatre - The Drunks is a darkly comic and 
free-wheeling epic which gets to the heart of small town politics. Anthony Neilson directs the first piece 
of large scale new writing to be performed in The Courtyard Theatre  -  
 
 The Grain Store
 10 September-1 October 2009
As Stalin launches the first of his Five Year Plans, a close-knit rural community stands unwittingly in the 
path of his drive to create a thriving socialist Soviet Union. Michael Boyd directs this urgent and epic 
account of one of the untold stories of the 20th century  -  
 
 The Comedy of Errors 
25 June-15 August 2009
This innovative version of The Comedy of Errors offers young people the ideal first opportunity to see 
Shakespeare performed live. Created in association with theatre company Told By An Idiot, this production
 will have just 5 public performances  -  


Leave the car behind when you go to the Theatre. The Old Tramway walk, a tree lined path is a 
convenient and pleasant shortcut to the rear of our Guest House. 
 B&B near the RSC Stratford-upon-Avon.
 


Last updated 211108
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 







































































































































































































































Home Rooms Breakfast menu Prices Special offers RSC Theatres Restaurants Places to visit How to find us Reviews