Significant Upgrades to England's Famed Royal Shakespeare Theater Are Worth a Look
 Now in its final stages of transformation, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre will have a new thrust stage auditorium at its heart. It is one of just a handful of theaters around the world with this sophisticated technology.
The theater has been designed to bring the audience much closer to the action with seats at the back twice as close to the stage as they were in the original 1932 Elisabeth Scott cinema-style auditorium.
Situated alongside the River Avon, the upgraded building contains both the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres. It combines the best elements of the original Art Deco building with a host of new features including a rooftop restaurant, riverside terrace and a Theatre Tower from which you can see all the nearby Shakespearean attractions.
The theater will open to the public in late 2010 with a series of preview events and activities designed to test the building, leading up to the debut performances in February and March 2011. These productions will be performed by the same RSC acting ensemble that will visit New York’s Park Avenue Armory in 2011 as part of the Lincoln Center Festival.
The RSC has long enjoyed a close relationship with North American audiences, who helped fund the 1932 Elisabeth Scott building and its adjoining Swan Theatre in 1982. A significant number of visitors to Stratford-upon-Avon are from the US and Canada.
Besides attending stage performances, visitors travel here to see where Shakespeare was born, went to school and where he died, as well as some of England’s most beautiful countryside found on the banks of the River Avon.
The Company will announce titles of the February and March 2011 opening productions in September, and details of its 50th birthday anniversary year will be released when the RSC reopens for preview events in late November 2010.
For information on the RSC contact www.rsc.org.uk; you can learn more about Stratford-on-Avon as well as destinations throughout England at www.visitengland.com.
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