The be-all and end-all

In May 2004 the Royal Shakespeare Company was beginning to emerge from one of the more turbulent periods in its history. It had fled expensively from the Barbican, had an unhappy season at the Roundhouse, and run up a substantial deficit. Its plans to demolish the listed Memorial Theatre in Stratford- upon-Avon and replace it with an entirely new building had been received with less than utter rapture. Under a new team the RSC was beginning to find its feet creatively, and had made a healthy financial surplus. It was a time for caution and consolidation.

Against this background, the RSC’s Artistic Director Michael Boyd clearly recalled the attitude of Marshal Foch at the battle of the Marne in 1914: ‘Hard pressed on my right. My centre is yielding. Impossible to manoeuvre. Situation excellent. I am attacking.’ So he decided the RSC should stage the complete works of William Shakespeare in a single international festival year. A brave RSC board agreed, allocated £3 million from reserves to cover the cost, appointed Deborah Shaw as Complete Works Producer, and embarked on an extraordinary 12 months.

My contribution as Chairman was to undertake a sponsored complete works marathon and see them all — 38 plays, The Rape of Lucrece, Venus and Adonis, The Phoenix and the Turtle and some of the sonnets. Just over 12 months, 884,647 words and 589 scenes later I breasted the tape at King Lear. Not alone — 100 fellow completists had paid £1,000 for season tickets, and most of them had lasted the course. Shakespeare anoraks are a hardy breed. A glittering press night is one thing, but turning out in The Swan for a 3 o’clock rehearsed reading of The Two Noble Kinsmen (rarely performed, and for good reason) quite another.