RSC Announces Four-Year, National Touring Programme

Audiences across England, from Cornwall to Cumbria, will have the opportunity to experience high-quality Shakespeare productions in their local community, thanks to a £2 million funding boost from Arts Council England, using money from the National Lottery.

The four-year touring programme has been developed in collaboration with our 16 Associate Regional Theatres and 280 schools across 100 towns and cities, to help tackle barriers to cultural participation and access and to develop sustainable audiences for Shakespeare.

This four-year commitment responds directly to research published by the Arts Council England this month, showing that the number of plays touring across England has fallen 64% since 2019.

The passengers struggle to stand on a sinking ship’s deck — Our recent production of Hamlet, directed by Rupert Goold, toured theatres across England between February and April 2026.
© RSC Browse and license our images

As the RSC’s Executive Director Andrew Leveson said in this year’s Future of Theatre Conference keynote speech:
"Jennie Lee’s founding proposition – that everyone should have access to arts and culture where they live, not as privilege but as public good – remains unmet.

"As touring costs rise, fewer productions travel, runs are shorter...The communities losing out are overwhelmingly those already under served."

The RSC’s network of partners was established to address these systemic challenges.

WHAT DOES THE FOUR-YEAR PROGRAMME INVOLVE?

The programme consists of two large-scale Shakespeare tours in 2028 and 2030, programmed in collaboration with the RSC’s 8 large-scale Associate Regional Theatres: Blackpool Grand Theatre, Norwich Theatre, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Bradford Theatres, Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall Nottingham, Marlowe Theatre Canterbury, Hall for Cornwall and York Theatre Royal, with an anticipated audience reach of 56,0000+.

Alongside this, there will be four annual, twelve-week First Encounters with Shakespeare tours to schools, theatres and communities with an anticipated audience and participant reach of around 50,000.

Opening in Autumn 2026 is Phyllida Lloyd’s landmark revival of her all-female, 2012 production of Julius Caesar starring Harriet Walter as Brutus, which tours to Associate Schools across England; the first of four First Encounters with Shakespeare productions to be presented in schools and local communities across England from 2026-2030.

10094_Feb26_PlayHub-News-images_EK4 — Harriet Walter will play Brutus in our upcoming touring revival of Phyllida Lloyd's all-female Julius Caesar.
Art Director Louise Richardson © Seamus Ryan Browse and license our images

The production will tour to Associate Schools in Peterborough, Cornwall, Bradford, Nottingham and Blackpool as part of a new week-long residency model from 21 September to 23 October 2026, after which, it will visit The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon from 5 to 28 November.

A series of in-school workshops and post-show discussions will accompany the production. These live events, unique to each performance will see cast, creatives, young people and guest speakers from local communities and the criminal justice system discuss how this 400-year-old text connects with our lives and world today.

RSC Announces Four-Year, National Touring Programme

WHAT DOES THE FOUR-YEAR PROGRAMME INVOLVE?

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