RSC’s artistic director Michael Boyd announces final curtain

Months after moving into renovated theatre, Boyd and executive director Vikki Heywood to stand down in 2012, a ‘planned and slow departure’ The duo who have carried the Royal Shakespeare Company into both a fresh artistic era, and a new £112.8m theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, are to step down by the end of next year. Michael Boyd , the company’s artistic director, and Vikki Heywood , its executive director, will step down simultaneously, they have announced. According to Boyd: “I have always said that it would take 10 years to make a genuine difference in the life and the soul of the company, and though 10 years will not be enough to achieve all that I would like, it will be time for me to pass the challenges on to a new artistic director.” Heywood added: “Michael and I have decided to leave at the same time because that is the right decision for the company. This is a planned and slow departure with a progressive transformation to a new leadership.” The new chairman of the RSC, Nigel Hugill, will put together a selection committee, which will hope to make an appointment in the first quarter of 2012. Running the RSC is, aside from the artistic directorship of the National Theatre, arguably the most powerful job in British theatre. A challenge for an incoming team will be to resolve the question of a permanent London home for the company, still left hanging after Boyd’s predecessor, Adrian Noble, removed the company from the Barbican shortly before his departure in 2003. Boyd inherited an organisation in crisis , with a deficit running at around £1.5m, and a demoralised staff. The redevelopment of the unsatisfactory Stratford Royal Shakespeare Theatre was also pressing. He rebuilt the RSC’s acting ensemble, establishing long-term companies-within-the-company to undertake projects – notably the 2006-8 Histories cycle, which saw Shakespeare’s eight English historical plays performed in sequence . And from 2006-7, the company staged a Complete Works festival – every word written by the playwright performed in Stratford over the course of a year. In the past year, the company has celebrated its 50th birthday and moved into the newly redeveloped Royal Shakespeare and Swan theatres in Stratford, and announced that it will be leading a World Shakespeare festival as part of next year’s Cultural Olympiad. It also opened Matilda: the Musical, with music by Tim Minchin and book by Dennis Kelly, which transfers to the West End on Tuesday . Publishing the company’s annual report, Boyd and Heywood also reported that 500,000 extra day visitors had come to the RST since it opened in November 2010. In the 2010-11 season, the company played to 90% capacity in Stratford, London and Newcastle. Heywood said: “I am immensely proud to have led the team that built arguably the finest theatre for Shakespeare in the world, which is loved by both artists and audiences.” Delivering the project “on time and on budget has been one of the greatest achievements of my career,” she added. Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre William Shakespeare Charlotte Higgins guardian.co.uk

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