Royal Shakespeare Company formative seasons under Peter Hall (1960–1970)
In 1960, Peter Hall was appointed to lead the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. He pushed for a year-round, resident ensemble rather than a short festival season, setting the conditions for a new kind of national Shakespeare company.
In late 1960, plans were announced to use the Aldwych Theatre as the company’s London home. This gave Stratford productions a route to larger metropolitan audiences and supported Hall’s aim of continuous repertoire and national impact.
In 1961, the first RSC season at the Aldwych helped prove the practical value of a London base. Transferring work between Stratford and London encouraged a recognizable company identity and helped build public attention beyond Stratford’s summer season.
In March 1961, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) was formally established, and the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was renamed the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The change was more than a new title: it supported the idea of a permanent company with a shared style and long-term artistic planning.
In 1962, Peter Brook directed King Lear for the RSC with Paul Scofield in the title role. The production became influential for its severe, modern approach, showing how the new company could rethink Shakespeare’s tragedies without relying on older theatrical habits.
In 1963, The Wars of the Roses—adapted by John Barton and co-directed by Barton and Hall—combined Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays and Richard III into a single theatrical event. Its large scale and clear political storytelling became a landmark for the RSC’s “repertory” approach, where productions could be built as connected parts of a bigger artistic plan.
In early 1964, the RSC Experimental Group presented a “Theatre of Cruelty” season in London, associated with director Peter Brook and ideas from Antonin Artaud. These experiments pushed beyond standard Shakespeare production methods and signaled that the RSC would make room for modernist techniques alongside classic texts.
In 1965, the RSC premiered Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming, with performances leading to a major London presentation at the Aldwych. Programming a contemporary play of this scale strengthened Hall’s goal that the company should be known for modern drama as well as Shakespeare.
In August 1965, Hall opened a new Hamlet at Stratford with 24-year-old David Warner as a student-like prince, later transferring to the Aldwych. The production’s casting and style helped show how the RSC could speak to younger audiences and the social mood of the 1960s while staying close to Shakespeare’s text.
In 1966, Hall directed Gogol’s The Government Inspector at the RSC, with the production documented in the company’s archives. High-profile work on non-Shakespeare repertoire supported the institutional idea that a permanent company could master many styles, not just Elizabethan verse.
In 1968, Peter Hall ended his period as the RSC’s leading director/manager, and Trevor Nunn took over as artistic director. This leadership change marked the close of the founding “Hall” phase and the start of a new era built on the structures Hall had put in place.
By the end of the 1960s, the RSC’s core model was established: a resident ensemble, a Stratford home, and a working London base that could share productions and audiences. Hall-era landmark productions and experiments—Shakespeare, modern drama, and avant-garde work—helped define the RSC as a major cultural institution rather than a seasonal festival.