The Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2026 season includes an all-male staging of As You Like It, a landmark revival of Julius Caesar set in a women’s prison and a mischievous take on Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers which join the previously announced Game of Thrones: The Mad King.
The Royal Shakespeare Company performs across three stages at its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and following the latest 2026 season announcements, RSC co-artistic directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey said: “We are delighted to share our new season, which brings together five productions including an epic fantasy, a 19th century literary masterpiece, a swashbuckling adventure and two plays from our in-house playwright.
“Each of these productions, in their own way, celebrate how time-honoured stories, when viewed through fresh eyes, can defy expectations, and help us to see the world around us anew.”
A new production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It
The Royal Shakespeare Company performs across three stages at its home in Stratford-upon-Avon, and in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre for its 2026 season Tony Award-winning Broadway star Jonathan Groff plays Rosalind in a new production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. The production marks Groff’s RSC debut performance, having previously originated the roles of Melchior Gabor in Spring Awakening the musical and Kristoff in Disney’s Frozen franchise.
As You Like It will be performed from Saturday 26th September to Saturday 7th November.
A revival of Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female, Julius Caesar
In The Other Place, Olivier Award-winning actress Harriet Walter returns to the RSC to play Brutus in a revival of Phyllida Lloyd’s landmark, all-female, Julius Caesar.
First performed at the Donmar Warehouse in 2012 the production follows a group of female prisoners who choose to perform Shakespeare’s play to express their preoccupations with freedom and justice. The original production was famously described by The Observer as “one of the most important theatrical events of the last 20 years”.
The production sees Harriet Walter and the company tour to schools across England as part of a series of events celebrating 20 years of the RSC’s partnership work with schools and theatres, after which the production will visit The Other Place from Thursday 5th to Saturday 28th November.
Two-part adaptation of Middlemarch
In the Swan Theatre, George Eliot’s expansive study of provincial life, Middlemarch, comes to the stage in a two-part adaptation by Nina Raine. Directed by Jeremy Herrin this story of a fictional 1832 Midlands town at the precipice of pivotal social change will be performed with Part 1 playing from Thursday 1st October and Part 2 from Saturday 10th October, and running until Saturday 16th January.
Looking ahead to the festive season
Audacious theatre company Told by an Idiot will be sharing its trademark visual comedy through Alexandre Dumas’s classic story of The Three Musketeers, playing from Saturday 28th November to Saturday 9th January.
Adapted and directed by Told by an Idiot Co-founder and Artistic Director, Paul Hunter, this ‘wild’ new stage adaptation brings together an international company of performers, live music and a ‘charmingly unreliable’ Spanish narrator.
Epic Game of Thrones story comes to the RSC
As previously announced, a new play based on the novels by George R.R Martin will take to the RSC stage this summer for its world premiere.
Game of Thrones: The Mad King is a sweeping new stage epic spanning the final years before the events of the acclaimed novels and hit TV series, when audiences can come face to face with familiar characters from the houses Targaryen, Stark, Lannister, Baratheon and Martell - and witness the events that set the stage for the critically acclaimed series.
Executive producer and creator, George R. R. Martin said: “When I first wrote Game of Thrones, I never imagined that it would be anything other than a book. It was a place for my imagination to exist without limits. To my great surprise, it was adapted for a series and viewers have been able to enter the world of my imagination through the medium of television.
“For my work to now be adapted for the stage is something I did not expect but welcome with great enthusiasm and excitement. Theatre offers something unique. A place for mine and the audience’s imagination to meet and hopefully create something magical.”
Public bookings for As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Middlemarch and The Three Musketeers open from Wednesday 18th March at 10am.
Public booking for Game of Thrones: The Mad King opens from Friday 24th April 2026.
Discounts are normally available for groups of ten or more. For more information and bookings visit the RSC website at rsc.org.uk or call the Box Office on 01789 331111.
