North-East Shakespeare fans will get the chance to see a Royal Shakespeare Company play at Newcastle’s Theatre Royal in February. Viv Hardwick reports.

A stars in Life for Life S predicted in 7DAYS in March, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has announced it will be returning to Newcastle Theatre Royal in February 2012 to open a major UK tour of its new production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. The show will celebrate the week of the theatre’s 175th birthday.

The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s most popular, enduring and controversial romantic comedies, exploring love and sexual politics through Petruchio’s attempts to tame Katharina to a submissive life of domesticity.

Often re-adapted and re-imagined for stage and screen – Cole Porter’s Kiss me Kate and 10 Things I Hate About You are among the most famous – it retains a fascination for modern audiences and has broad appeal.

The production will debut at the recently- reopened Royal Shakespeare Theatre, before embarking on a six-week national UK tour starting at Newcastle £4m revamped Theatre Royal. The director is Lucy Bailey, whose acclaimed production of Julius Caesar was well-received during the RSC’s 2009 Newcastle residency.

The RSC will be in the North-East this year, with its Young People’s Shakespeare version of Hamlet, a condensed 80-minute adaptation of the play designed to provide an ideal first experience of Shakespeare for eight to 11 year olds (Years 5, 6 and 7).

The show, directed by the award-winning American writer and director Tarell Alvin McCraney, which was performed to sell-out audiences in the region last year, will tour schools in September. The project is being supported by the Theatre Royal.

Theatre chief executive Philip Bernays says: “The Taming of the Shrew is a fantastic play, and we are very pleased that the RSC will be starting its UK tour of it with us. To have the run the week of our 175th birthday is also very fitting given that the first-ever production at the ‘new’ Grey Street Theatre Royal in February 1837 was a Shakespeare play – The Merchant of Venice.”

Michael Boyd, RSC artistic director, says: “We have a deep and long-standing relationship with Newcastle audiences and I am delighted to begin our national tour of The Taming of the Shrew at the Theatre Royal as the theatre celebrates its 175th birthday.

“We love working in the North-East and look forward to returning again later this year, when we work with the Theatre Royal and local schools on our Young People’s Shakespeare production of Hamlet, and later in 2012 as part of our World Shakespeare Festival programme.

“Thank you to everyone in the region for your continued support. Along with the clear passion for Shakespeare here, it makes Newcastle feel like a home from home and I am eager to come back as soon as possible.”

􀁧 The Taming of the Shrew, Newcastle Theatre Royal, February 23-March 3, (Evenings: 7.30pm, Matinees: Thursday 2pm and Saturday 2.30pm). Tickets: £9- £30. Box Office: 08448-112-121 or select your own seat and book online at theatreroyal.co.uk