Seamus Ryan
DANIEL EVANS and TAMARA HARVEY will become the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) Co-Artistic Directors from next June.
The pair will take over from Acting Artistic Director ERICA WHYMAN, who began post after GREGORY DORAN moved into a new role last April.
Currently Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre, Evans first joined RSC in 1994 and returned to the company a decade later during his career as an actor.
"I was fortunate to see so many inspiring performances at Stratford during my teenage years; and later celebrated my 21st birthday there during my first professional job post-drama school. So, to be returning to the RSC as its Co-Artistic Director is immensely meaningful to me," he said.
Harvey, who was born in Botswana and grew up in Massachusetts and Brighton, began her career as Assistant Director at Shakespeare’s Globe and has been Artistic Director of Theatr Clwyd since 2015. She is the first woman to hold this post.
"Stepping into this job is both the most exciting and the most daunting thing I’ve ever done," she said.
"The great joy of working in partnership with Daniel, an artist I admire beyond measure, is that we share both that excitement and that awe at becoming the next custodians of this amazing company."
The pair applied for the position jointly and were chosen by a selection panel of six, led by RSC Board Chair SHRITI VADERA.
Vadera said the pair bring "a brilliant track record of artistic achievement with a strong commitment to education, communities and championing diverse talent and voices, alongside a proven strategic ability to lead major companies".
"Their partnership heralds an exciting vision for the future of the RSC to attract world-class artistic talent, captivate today’s audiences with Shakespeare, classics and new work, and increase radically the reach and impact of our pioneering learning, partnerships and digital work."