RSC's Rome Season
London theatre news: Friday 12 May 2017
Royal Shakespeare Company - Seasons - Shakespeare
Tickets now on sale for the RSC's Rome season at the Barbican which starts from 6 November 2017.
Just how much tragedy can you take?
Well, with the upcoming Rome season from the Royal Shakespeare Company playing at the Barbican, it might be time to find out because tragedy is on offer aplenty in this clutch of Shakespeare's plays which revolve around Rome and its emperors ... and lovers.
The season runs from 6 November 2017 to 20 January 2018 and comprises ...
Click the titles above to see our detailed listings for each play.
Led by Season Director Angus Jackson and played out on the epic shared space of the Barbican stage, this extraordinary collection exposes the decadence, politics, power play and corruption of Ancient Rome, charting the decline of an empire from birth to eventual implosion.
We have tickets for the Rome season .
Below you'll find synopses of all the plays as well as performance dates.
Coriolanus - from 6 to 18 November 2017
A full-throttle war play that revels in the sweat of the battlefield, Coriolanus transports us back to the emergence of the republic of Rome.
Caius Martius Coriolanus is a fearless soldier but a reluctant leader.
His ambitious mother attempts to carve him a path to political power, but he struggles to change his nature and do what is required to achieve greatness.
In this new city state struggling to find its feet, where the gap between rich and poor is widening every day, Coriolanus must decide who he really is and where his allegiances lie.
Following his sell-out productions of Tom Morton-Smith's Oppenheimer (2014) and James Fenton's adaptation of Don Quixote (2016), Rome Season Director, Angus Jackson, opens the collection of Shakespeare's Rome plays with a visceral production which sees Sope Dirisu (One Night in Miami, Donmar Warehouse, 2016) take on the title role.
Julius Caesar - from 24 November 2017 to 20 January 2018
Caesar returns from war, all-conquering, but mutiny is rumbling through the corridors of power.
The Rome season continues with the politics of spin and betrayal turning to violence.
Season Director Angus Jackson steers the thrilling action as the race to claim the empire spirals out of control.
Antony and Cleopatra - from 30 November 2017 to 20 January 2018
Following Caesar's assassination, Mark Antony has reached the heights of power.
Now he has neglected his empire for a life of decadent seduction with his mistress, Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.
Torn between love and duty, Antony's military brilliance deserts him, and his passion leads the lovers to their tragic end.
Iqbal Khan directs following his critically acclaimed productions of Othello (2015) and Much Ado About Nothing (2012).
Titus Andronicus - from 07 December 2017 to 19 January 2018
The decay of Rome reaches its final, violent depths in Shakespeare's most bloody play - the one that usually hits the headlines when the bloody content creates some adverse reactions with audiences.!
Titus is a ruler exhausted by war and loss (and, presumably, the exertion of having fathered 25 sons) who relinquishes power but leaves Rome in disorder.
Rape, cannibalism and severed body parts fill the moral void at the heart of this corrupt society.
Shakespeare's gory revenge tragedy presents us with murder as entertainment, and, as the body count piles up, poses questions about the nature of sexuality, family, class and society.
Blanche McIntyre returns to the RSC after her debut directing The Two Noble Kinsmen (2016) with the epic conclusion of our Rome Season.
Image: RSC
And while we're on the subject of the RSC, we'd like to remind you that the company's innovative production of Shakespeare's The Tempest will be at the Barbican over the summer ...
The Tempest - 30 June to 18 August 2017
Simon Russell Beale plays Prospero in this ground-breaking production directed by RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran.
On a distant island a man waits.
Robbed of his position, power and wealth, his enemies have left him in isolation.
But this is no ordinary man, and this no ordinary island.
Prospero is a magician, able to control the very elements and bend nature to his will.
When a sail appears on the horizon, he reaches out across the ocean to the ship that carries the men who wronged him.
Creating a vast magical storm he wrecks the ship and washes his enemies up on the shore.
When they wake they find themselves lost on a fantastical island where nothing is as it seems.
Venue
The Barbican Theatre
Silk Street
London EC2Y 8DS
Dates
Rome Season from 6 November 2017 to 20 January 2018
The Tempest from 30 June to 18 August 2017
Tickets
Rome season from £11
The Tempest from £63.50
Links
RSC Rome Season website
Wikipedia links:
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