RSC announces 2010 Roundhouse season

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has announced details of this year's Roundhouse season in London.

From November 2010, six full-scale productions will be staged by 44 actors over ten weeks at the venue. Two plays specially adapted for children will also feature in the programme.

The season will open with Rupert Goold's production of Romeo and Juliet, followed by Michael Boyd's Antony and Cleopatra.

Julius Caesar, The Winter's Tale, As You Like It and King Lear will also be brought to life in a purpose-built 750-seat auditorium, designed to emulate the Courtyard Theatre in Shakespeare's birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon.

RSC artistic director Michael Boyd said: 'London audiences will be able to see our ensemble in full flight - 44 actors pushing each other to set the bar of their achievements higher.'

In addition to the stage productions, a series of educational events will be organised throughout the ten-week season to dispel the myth that Shakespeare plays are boring or irrelevant to young people and encourage them to get involved in theatre.

The RSC is due to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2011.