Royal Shakespeare Theatre Design Goes Stateside

	Photo credit: Stephanie Berger

Following on from the critical success of the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has further developed Charcoalblue's and Bennetts Associates' multi-award winning auditorium designs to deliver a 975-seat "flat pack" traveling performance space.

The new, three-tiered, structure has been built inside New York's historic Park Avenue Armory. Here, from July 6-August 14, Lincoln Center Festival and Park Avenue Armory, in association with The Ohio State University, are presenting the Royal Shakespeare Company for a repertoire of five of Shakespeare's plays - As You Like It, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, and The Winter's Tale .

"The flat pack theatre is a dynamic replica of the RST theatre, originally conceived by Charcoalblue and Bennetts Associates Architects," explains Charcoalblue's design director, Gavin Green. "The project has been led by the RSC's head of construction and technical design manager, Alan Bartlett, and has been designed and built in the RSC's workshops in Stratford-upon-Avon."

Known as the Scarlet & Gray Stage, the theatre is currently enabling US audiences to experience Shakespeare in the same intimate, three-dimensional thrust stage environment as in the bard's hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon.

Charcoalblue's managing director, Andy Hayles, says, "This latest exciting development follows on from the hugely successful Charcoalblue and RSC collaborations on the 1,000-seat Courtyard Theatre and the 700-seat Roundyard Theatre for the RSC's annual season at The Roundhouse in London."

Since opening, the venue has been named "Stratford upon Manhattan" and following a press visit to the space, Barbara Chai, of The New York Times wrote, "The smell of wood was ripe, and steel frames jutted out from the wooden flooring backstage. The red cushioned seats, also shipped over from the U.K., are still covered in plastic. But what is evident is the way the space will lend itself to the performances."