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TheEnglish Shakespeare Company was an English theatre company founded in 1986 byMichael Bogdanov andMichael Pennington to present and promote the works ofWilliam Shakespeare on both a national and an international level.[1] Funding came from the stateArts Council of Great Britain, and also commercially from theAllied Irish Bank and Canadian retail tycoonEd Mirvish.[2]
Its inaugural production (1986) was an anthology entitledThe Henrys (Henry IV, Part 1,Henry IV, Part 2, andHenry V) which opened at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth in December 1986. A year later, several more plays (Richard II,Henry VI: House of Lancaster,Henry VI: House of York andRichard III) were added to the original productions and were presented as a complete history cycle under the title ofThe Wars of the Roses. The production toured for two years in seventeen venues in the UK including theOld Vic inLondon, as well as appearing at several international venues, including theHong Kong Festival, opening the newTokyo Globe Theatre, being the centrepiece of The 1988 International Theatre Festival ofChicago, and touring toStamford, Connecticut, the Spoleto Festival,Melbourne, theAdelaide Festival,Brisbane, theNetherlands,Hamburg,Berlin andFrankfurt.
In addition toThe Wars of the Roses, productions of many individual Shakespeare plays were also presented. They includedTwelfth Night,Macbeth,The Tempest,Romeo & Juliet,Antony and Cleopatra, andAs You Like It.[3]
The last production ofRomeo and Juliet, the closing production of the company, ended in Plymouth after touring the world.[citation needed]
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