The Royal Shakespeare Company has named seven productions for its 2027 season in Stratford-upon-Avon, led by Elizabeth Debicki as Richard II and Damien Molony as Coriolanus, with new stage versions of Mrs Dalloway and Piranesi heading for the Swan.
The programme runs from February to early September and uses all three of the company's Stratford stages. Four of the seven are Shakespeare, one from each corner of the canon - a Roman play, a history, a comedy and a tragedy. Alongside them sit two adaptations of novels by women and the return of a play that sold out for the RSC in the West End in 2025.
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre gets what co-artistic directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey call a trilogy. RSC Associate Director Elizabeth Freestone opens it with Coriolanus (6 February - 20 March 2027), casting Damien Molony in the title role and reading the play through populism, social instability and a struggle over scarce resources. Richard II follows (10 April - 22 May 2027), with Golden Globe and Emmy winner Elizabeth Debicki as the king and Daniel Raggett directing. The summer slot goes to Romeo and Juliet (6 July - 28 August 2027), staged by Joanna Bowman.
In the Swan, Daniel Evans revives his production of Liz Duffy Adams' Born With Teeth, which imagines the working relationship between Christopher Marlowe and the young William Shakespeare, from 12 February - 3 April 2027; casting is still to come. Former RSC Writer-in-Residence Zoe Cooper has adapted Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway for Tamara Harvey to direct (16 April - 12 June 2027), a little over a century after the novel first appeared. The Swan's year ends with Piranesi (3 July - 21 August 2027), Sami Ibrahim's version of Susanna Clarke's award-winning novel, directed by Ned Bennett.
The Other Place has The Comedy of Errors (16 July - 4 September 2027), a First Encounters production directed by Sherman Theatre artistic director Francesca Goodridge, which goes on to tour RSC partner schools and venues once its Stratford run is over.
One production will not go ahead as planned. Monique Touko's Othello, with Sharon D Clarke in the title role, had been scheduled to run in the Swan from 13 February - 3 April 2027. The RSC has postponed it while Clarke undergoes treatment for cancer. Evans and Harvey said: "The casting of Sharon as Othello is integral to Monique Touko’s adaptation, which is why we have taken the difficult decision to postpone, to give Sharon the time and space she needs to undertake treatment." Everyone who had booked will receive an automatic refund.
Priority booking for the new productions opens to the RSC's Artists Circle and Gold Patrons on Monday 5 October 2026, followed by Silver Patrons on Wednesday 7 October, Bronze Patrons on Thursday 8 October, Members on Wednesday 14 October and Subscribers on Tuesday 20 October. Public booking opens on Wednesday 21 October 2026.
