The Other Place is a black box theatre on Southern Lane, near to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It is owned and operated by the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2006, an earlier version of the theatre closed and reopened as the temporary and larger Courtyard Theatre, while the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres were redeveloped. In March 2016, The Other Place was reinstated as a 200-seat studio theatre.
In 1974, the RSC acquired its first studio theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, The Other Place. The name was chosen to reflect continuity from the company's work at The Place, London. [1] Converted from a rehearsal room, and directed initially by Buzz Goodbody, [2] this corrugated ‘tin hut’ became home to some of the company's most exciting small-scale and experimental work both in classical productions and in productions of work from contemporary writers such as David Edgar, Edward Bond and Peter Flannery. [3] The Guardian's journalist Andrew Dickson would later note, [4]
In April 1975, a production of Hamlet opened at The Other Place, the Royal Shakespeare Company's pocket-sized studio theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. A little-known 31-year-old called Ben Kingsley was the prince. Elsewhere in the cast were Charles Dance and Mikel Lambert. The reviewers fell off their seats in shock. Nicholas de Jongh, writing for the Guardian, called the production "totally unexpected". The Times' Irving Wardle confessed: "It is a long time since I have been so gripped." He later ranked it one of his productions of the decade. In fact, played in jeans and shirt-sleeves to an audience of just 150, this Hamlet was proclaimed one of the greatest anyone could remember. One person was not there to celebrate: the director, Buzz Goodbody. A few days before, she had taken a fatal overdose of sleeping pills in her London flat. She was just 28.
It was an intimate studio theatre space and in such close confines, it was not unknown for actors to interact with the audience by sitting amongst them or rushing onto the stage through the theatre’s main entrance.
The Other Place was closed in 1989 for two years of rebuilding and was replaced with a more modern building, designed by Ian Ritchie Architects and opening in 1991. It remained true to the spirit of the original building, housing some of the company's most exciting productions as well as hosting overseas companies, workshops, teaching courses and conferences on all aspects of theatre, including the annual Prince of Wales Shakespeare School. [5]
The new building later closed and was transformed into a foyer for the RSC's temporary Courtyard Theatre which was built on the adjacent car-park to house performances in Stratford-upon-Avon whilst the RSC's main houses, the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres, were redeveloped as part of the Transformation project.
The Other Place's fifteen-year history represented "a brief, shining moment in the long history of the Royal Shakespeare Company". [6]
The RSC had anticipated the extension for the Courtyard Theatre would be a temporary building. [7] However, plans were made to bring back The Other Place, [8] keeping the existing structure of the current Courtyard Theatre. [7] In 2012, planning permission was granted by Stratford District Council to reinstate The Other Place within the extended building. [9]
The Other Place is a 200-seat studio theatre with a remodelled internal space to create a new-style, mixed use TOP which will provide opportunities for community, amateur and educational use. Over 30,000 costumes are available to the public for the first time through theatre tours. There is also space for small conferences and meetings and occasional commercial hire. [10]
The redevelopment of the new TOP began in February 2015 and the theatre opened on 21 March 2016, in time for the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death. [11] [12]
Funding for the new theatre came from a £3 million grant from the Arts Council England raised through the National Lottery. Funding was also received from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, The Backstage Trust and from public donations. [10]
This is the final phase of the Transformation project, to redevelop the entire theatre complex in Stratford-upon-Avon. [13]
Stratford-upon-Avon, commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, 91 miles (146 km) north-west of London, 22 miles (35 km) south-east of Birmingham and 8 miles (13 km) south-west of Warwick. The town is the southernmost point of the Arden area on the edge of the Cotswolds. The estimated population in 2020 was 30,824; an increase from 27,894 in the 2011 census and 22,338 in the 2001 Census.
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratford-upon-Avon, and on tour across the UK and internationally.
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) is a grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is located in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon – Shakespeare's birthplace – in the English Midlands, beside the River Avon. The building incorporates the smaller Swan Theatre. The Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres re-opened in November 2010 after undergoing a major renovation known as the Transformation Project.
In theatre, a thrust stage is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its upstage end. A thrust has the benefit of greater intimacy between performers and the audience than a proscenium, while retaining the utility of a backstage area. Entrances onto a thrust are most readily made from backstage, although some theatres provide for performers to enter through the audience using vomitory entrances. A theatre in the round, exposed on all sides to the audience, is without a backstage and relies entirely on entrances in the auditorium or from under the stage.
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Arden of Faversham is an Elizabethan play, entered into the Register of the Stationers Company on 3 April 1592, and printed later that same year by Edward White. It depicts the real-life murder of Thomas Arden by his wife Alice Arden and her lover, and their subsequent discovery and punishment. The play is notable as perhaps the earliest surviving example of domestic tragedy, a form of Renaissance play which dramatized recent and local crimes rather than far-off and historical events.
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The Grammar School of King Edward VI at Stratford-upon-Avon is a grammar school and academy in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, traditionally for boys only. However, since September 2013 the school has admitted girls into the Sixth Form. It is almost certain that William Shakespeare attended this school, leading to the school widely being described as "Shakespeare's School".
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The Swan Theatre is a theatre belonging to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It is built on to the side of the larger Royal Shakespeare Theatre, occupying the Victorian Gothic structure that formerly housed the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre that preceded the RST but was destroyed by fire in 1926.
Ian Ritchie Architects Ltd is a British architectural and design practice, based in London led by its founder Ian Ritchie. The practice changed its name to 'Ritchie Studio' on 24 June 2021. Recently completed projects include the RIBA Award-winning Susie Sainsbury Theatre and Angela Burgess Recital Hall for the Royal Academy of Music and the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London.
Michael Reardon is an English architect, historic building consultant, and interior designer. He worked on the Swan Theatre (1986) in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, as well as being the inspecting architect for Birmingham's St. Philip's Cathedral and Hereford Cathedral.
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The Courtyard Theatre was a 1,048 seat thrust stage theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England operated by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). It temporarily replaced The Other Place theatre during the redevelopment of the Royal Shakespeare (RST) and Swan Theatres. The last performance at The Courtyard Theatre took place in 2010. It was replaced by The Other Place in 2016, which returned as a 200-seat studio theatre in 2016.
Mary Ann "Buzz" Goodbody was an English theatre director. Associated with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) for almost all of her short career, Goodbody is remembered for her sometimes politically charged experimental work, and for establishing the RSC's first studio theatre in Stratford, The Other Place. She was the RSC's first female director.
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The Dirty Duck, also known as The Black Swan, is a pub located on Waterside in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.
...we think it is time for a new The Other Place...on the site of the old The Other Place