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The RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon has announced its forthcoming Spring 2026 season.

The season will star actor and filmmaker Kenneth Branagh, who makes a return to the RSC for the first time in over 30 years.

Branagh will star in the new season alongside Oscar-winning actress Helen Hunt, and two-time Olivier Award winner Mark Gatiss.

The five productions featured in the new season include The Tempest (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 13 May to 20 June 2026) starring Kenneth Branagh as Prospero, and directed by former National Theatre Artistic Director Richard Eyre.

Watch the new trailer for the RSC spring 2026 season

Branagh will also star in Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard (Swan Theatre, 10 July to 29 August 2026), adapted by Laura Wade (Posh) and directed by Tamara Harvey, following their recent production of The Constant Wife.

Kenneth Branagh will star as Lopakhin in the new version, with Helen Hunt as Madame Ranyevskaya.

New productions also include Bertolt Brecht’s political satire The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Swan Theatre, 11 April to 30 May 2025), starring Mark Gatiss as gangster Arturo Ui, in a new version by Stephen Sharkey, directed by Seán Linnen.

In The Other Place, the RSC’s studio space, Martina Laird (Casualty) makes her playwriting debut with Driftwood (17 April to 30 May), which was shortlisted for the 2024 Verity Bargate Award, and directed by Chichester Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director Justin Audibert.

Also, the Unicorn Theatre’s Artistic Director Rachel Bagshaw directs a riotous re-telling of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Other Place, 19 June to 30 August), in a new co-production between the RSC and the Unicorn, edited by Robin Belfield.

Already announced for Stratford-upon-Avon are Measure for Measure directed by Emily Burns; Cyrano De Bergerac by Simon Evans and Debris Stephenson, starring Adrian Lester; Macbeth starring Sam Heughan and Lia Williams; new musical The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind; The Forsyte Saga Parts 1 & 2; Whitney White’s All Is But Fantasy; Henry V directed by Tamara Harvey and starring Alfred Enoch; and the world premiere of Roald Dahl’s The BFG, directed by Daniel Evans.

What They Said

Co-Artistic Directors Tamara Harvey and Daniel Evans said in a joint statement: “When we set out as the Co-Artistic Directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company, we were united by a belief in the RSC as a home for radical and resonant theatre – inspired by Shakespeare and made by the most exciting artists from across the globe. Two years after our arrival, that commitment remains at the heart of everything we do. From Shakespeare’s late meditation on freedom and forgiveness to Anton Chekhov’s prescient final play, by way of Bertolt Brecht’s searing satire on the rise of fascism, our relationship to family, community and state is brought sharply into focus on stage in 2026. We know that the stories we choose to tell as artists play a vital role in bringing people together, building connections and deepening our understanding of one another. In an increasingly volatile world, this matters to us more than ever. We look forward to welcoming a new generation of artists and audiences to the RSC in 2026 and beyond.”

Current & forthcoming RSC productions in London

Book tickets to Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre in London

Book tickets to Born With Teeth at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London

Book tickets to Wendy and Peter Pan at the Barbican Theatre London

Book tickets to Twelfth Night at the Barbican Theatre London

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Main photo: RSC Spring 2026 season starring Kenneth Branagh, Helen Hunt & Mark Gatiss. Photos via PR

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