158 jobs at risk at Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has said that it could axe as many as 158 jobs after it announced that it was shifting its focus to organising shows in only one of its venues for the next 12 months.

The organisation said that it will concentrate on programming events at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford-upon-Avon over the coming year, with the Swan Theatre and The Other Place remaining closed until 2022.

The announcement comes as formal consultation begins with the RSC’s permanent workforce, and the company-recognised trade unions and staff representatives.

The consultation process is a result of the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and covers a range of proposals from redundancies to changes in terms and conditions of employment. Although the final number of redundancies will not be known until the end of the formal consultation process, 158 people are currently in roles at risk, says the RSC.

Through redeployment into existing and newly created roles, together with voluntary redundancy, the RSC hopes to reduce the number of people leaving the company due to compulsory redundancy to below 90, at most a 17% reduction in the workforce. The consultation is expected to conclude in early December.

Catherine Mallyon, RSC executive director said: “We remain positive that live theatre will be back in our communities, doing what it does best – entertaining audiences and bringing joy to so many people.

“These are incredibly difficult times for everyone, and for the theatre community they are especially tough. Our live performance sector is experiencing one of the highest levels of loss of work anywhere: the personal impact of this is often devastating; the loss of skilled and talented people permanently from our sector is a very real worry for the future; and the impact on the nation’s economy immense.

“We are today taking tough decisions to cut costs and make sure we can reopen with confidence. We remain completely committed to a vibrant future for live theatre and to ensuring that right across the country Shakespeare and theatre can be relevant to and enjoyed by all the communities we serve.

“The extraordinary support we continue to see from the Company, our Members, Patrons, sponsors and supporters, alongside the Stratford-upon-Avon community is a wonderful thing. It demonstrates the importance placed on theatre in people’s lives, and we thank everybody for their messages, donations, patience and commitment to seeing us reopen again.”