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In 2010, the RSC famously turned Roald Dahl’s beloved Matilda into a musical, with huge success: the Tim Minchin-penned smash won seven Oliviers, has been turned into a film, and is still sitting pretty in the West End today.
And as the centrepiece of its just announced 2025 season, the venerable Stratford-upon-Avon-based company will head back into Dahl’s oeuvre for its Christmas show. The BFG (Nov 25-Jan 31, RST) short for the Big Friendly Giant, tells the story of Sophie, a girl who befriends the titular BFG who takes her to the scary Giant Land. Adapted by Tom Wells and directed by RSC co-boss Daniel Evans, the play will run for 10 weeks in Stratford-upon-Avon over the Christmas season this year and into early 2026, when it will move to Chichester and presumably on to London at some point (though not being a musical don’t expect it to run for ten years plus).
Then there’s the little matter of some guy called William Shakespeare: the 2025 programme will include Michael Longhurst’s production of Much Ado About Nothing (Apr 25-May 24, RST) that will apparently be set in the world of top flight football (!), the previously announced collab between Hamlet and Radiohead Hamlet Hail to the Thief (Jun 4-28, RST), the mighty Simon Russell Beale taking the lead in Max Webster’s production of the Bard’s lurid Roman gore fest Titus Andronicus (Apr 17-Jun 7, The Swan), bombastic queen of darkness Yaël Farber making her RSC debut directing The Winter’s Tale (Jul 12-Aug 30), and rising star Emily Burns directing Measure for Measure (Sep 13-Oct 25, RST).
Beyond the BFG and the big new writing news is the UK premiere of James Ijames’s Pulitzer-winning Fat Ham (Aug 15-Sep 13, The Swan), a ‘a comic tragedy’ about a young queer Black man who sees his father’s vengeful ghost at a cook out and is determined not to get trapped in the plot of Hamlet. And Game of Thrones star Rose Leslie will head up Laura Wade’s new adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife (Jun 20-Aug 2, The Swan).
There are a total of 11 plays being put on across three theatres.
Here is the complete list of RSC shows ready to break a leg this summer and autumn, including where and when they’ll be playing.
The full Royal Shakespeare Company programme for summer 2025
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
- Much Ado About Nothing – April 12 - May 24 2025
- Hamlet Hail To The Thief – June 4-28 2025
- The Winter's Tale – July 12 - August 30 2025
- Measure For Measure – September 13 - October 25 2025
- The BFG – November 25 2025 - January 31 2026
Swan Theatre
- Titus Andronicus – April 17 - June 7 2025
- The Constant Wife – June 20 - August 2 2025
- Fat Ham – August 15 - September 13 2025
- An Actor Convalescing in Devon – Sunday July 20 2025
The Other Place
- 4.48 Psychosis – July 10-27 2025
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona – August 4-31 2025
Public booking for most of these shows will open on February 12, but there is advance booking for members of the RSC. You can access those early ticket sales by purchasing your membership here. Additionally, ticket sales are already open for Hamlet Hail To The Thief and 4.48 Psychosis – you can purchase those here and here, respectively.
You can learn more about all of the shows above on the company’s website here.
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