Royal Shakespeare Company confirms 2021 winter programme

The Magician's Elephant and The Wars of the Roses have been rescheduled from the 2020 season.

The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced new performance dates for its scheduled productions of The Magician's Elephant and The Wars of the Roses Part 1 and Part 2, which have been postponed by the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. Previously scheduled to run from October 2020 to January 2021, the shows will now form the company's 2021 winter season, running from October 2021 until January 2022.

In announcing the new schedule, Gregory Doran, the RSC's Artistic Director, said: 'While we continue to explore every opportunity to open our Stratford buildings as soon as we possibly can, ideally later this year, I am pleased to share this hopeful news of the confirmed schedule for our Winter 2021 season. Since first closing our doors back in March, we have continued to do everything we possibly can to support our audiences through lockdown and to engage and entertain our communities across the UK and beyond."

The Magician's Elephant, a new family musical by Nancy Harris and Marc Teitler, is based on the novel by American children's author Kate DiCamillo. It is the story of an orphan boy names Peter, whose simple life is turned upside down by an elephant, conjured by a magician from out of the sky.

The musical will be directed by Sarah Tipple, with design by Colin Richmond and lighting by Oliver Fenwick.  It will be performed in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

The Wars of the Roses Part 1 and Part 2 reframes William Shakespeare's trilogy of Henry VI into a gripping two-part drama. The adaptation will be directed by Owen Horsley with Doran, with design by the RSC's Director of Design Stephen Brimson Lewis and costume designer Hannah Clark.

Of the plays, Doran said: "If you want to understand the dangerous world we live in, with its divisive politics, the rise of demagoguery and the threat of despotism, then you need look no further than The War of the Roses Part 1 and 2."

Both parts will play in the Swan Theatre.

Photo of Sarah Tipple by Sam Allard ©RSC