PRESS RELEASE – Tuesday 13 March. 11am PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHY CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE Twitter/ Facebook / Website The Royal Shakespeare Company and Playful Productions present IMPERIUM I: CONSPIRATOR and II: DICTATOR Based on the Cicero Trilogy by ROBERT HARRIS Adapted by MIKE POULTON Robert Harris’ best-selling Cicero trilogy, adapted for the stage by Mike Poulton, transfers to London’s West End this summer. This acclaimed, historical, two-part thriller has a limited 12 week engagement at the Gielgud Theatre from 14 June to 8 September 2018. Directed by RSC Artistic Director, Gregory Doran, IMPERIUM transfers to London following its recent sold-out run in Stratford. Cast will be led by Richard McCabe as Cicero (Olivier and Tony Award- winner for The Audience and BBC’s Collateral) and Joseph Kloska as Tiro (RSC’s Written On The Heart and The Crown on Netflix). Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday 23 March at 10am via imperiumwestend.com with over 10,000 tickets available for £10 and under, throughout the run. The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and Playful Productions are delighted to announce the West End transfer for acclaimed, historical two-part thriller IMPERIUM - I: Conspirator and II: Dictator, running for a limited engagement at London’s Gielgud Theatre from 14 June to 8 September 2018. Robert Harris’ best-selling Cicero trilogy is adapted for the stage by Mike Poulton as six one-act plays, presented in two performances, each with two intervals. Directed by RSC Artistic Director, Gregory Doran, IMPERIUM transfers to London following its recent sold-out run at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The cast will include Nicholas Boulton, Guy Burgess, Daniel Burke, Jade Croot, Peter De Jersey, Joe Dixon, John Dougall, Michael Grady-Hall, Oliver Johnstone, Paul Kemp, Joseph Kloska, Patrick Knowles, Richard McCabe, Hywel Morgan, David Nicolle, Siobhan Redmond, Patrick Romer, Christopher Saul, Eloise Secker and Simon Thorp. Further casting is still to be confirmed. Told through the watchful eyes of Cicero’s loyal secretary, IMPERIUM I: Conspirator chronicles how the great orator’s early success unwittingly paves the way for a brutal and bloody end to the Republic. With Rome in chaos at the beginning of IMPERIUM II: Dictator, Cicero must use all his brilliance to restore the power of the Senate from the civic mob and their would-be Emperor: one Julius Caesar. International best-selling novelist Robert Harris is known for historical fiction. In addition to his Cicero trilogy, his books include Fatherland, Archangel, Enigma, Pompeii and The Ghost, which have received major screen adaptations. His latest thriller Munich based on the 1938 Munich agreement, was published in September 2017. Harris is a former BBC correspondent and columnist for The Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph. RSC Associate Artist Mike Poulton is a playwright, and adapter of classical plays including works by Chekhov, Ibsen, Schiller, Euripides, and Strindberg. For the RSC, Poulton's previous adaptations have included St Erkenwald, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Malory's Morte d'Arthur, and Hilary Mantel's best-selling novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies. Gregory Doran has been Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company since 2012. His huge variety of directorial projects has not only included over 27 major Shakespeare productions, he also directed a Jacobean season of plays which won an Olivier Award in 2002, as well as classics from the UK and abroad. In 2013 he instigated the RSC’s “Live From Stratford-upon-Avon”, a new programme to screen productions live from Shakespeare’s home town, including the free streaming of the productions straight to UK schools. Gregory delivered the Richard Dimbleby Lecture for the BBC in 2016 This theatrical event, co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and Playful Productions, follows their last collaboration on Mike Poulton’s stage adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies which enjoyed success at the Aldwych Theatre after its Stratford run and transferred to Broadway in 2015. IMPERIUM is designed by Anthony Ward, with lighting by Mark Henderson. Music is composed by Paul Englishby, with sound by Claire Windsor. Ends For further information please contact THE CORNER SHOP PR on 0207 831 7657 Ben Chamberlain | Lewis Jenkins | Hannah Barnett Leveson For further information on the RSC please contact RSC Head of Press, Philippa Harland LISTINGS IMPERIUM I: Conspirator and II: Dictator Gielgud Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 6AR Twitter/ Facebook / Website Monday to Saturday at 7pm Wednesday and Saturday at 1.30pm I: Conspirator and II: Dictator alternate performances throughout the week. For full schedule (including access performances), see HERE IMPERIUM – Press Day: Saturday 30 June 1.30pm: I: Conspirator 7pm: II: Dictator Review embargo to Monday 2 July Box Office Website: imperiumwestend.com Telephone: 0844 482 5130 Prices from £10 (Prices from £5 for 16-25 year olds only) Save £20* when booking both I: Conspirator and II: Dictator together via the RSC or Delfont Mackintosh Theatres. *Valid only on tickets priced £99.50, £69.50 and £49.50. For full terms and booking links, see HERE NOTES TO EDITORS IMPERIUM is the recipient of an EDGERTON FOUNDATION NEW PLAYS AWARD The RSC Acting Companies are generously supported by THE GATSBY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION and THE KOVNER FOUNDATION The work of the RSC Literary Department is generously supported by THE DRUE HEINZ TRUST The Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company creates theatre at its best, made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world. We produce an inspirational artistic programme each year, setting Shakespeare in context, alongside the work of his contemporaries and today’s writers. Everyone at the RSC - from actors to armourers, musicians to technicians - plays a part in creating the world you see on stage. All our productions begin life at our Stratford workshops and theatres and we bring them to the widest possible audience through our touring, residencies, live broadcasts and online activity. So wherever you experience the RSC, you experience work made in Shakespeare’s home town. We have trained generations of the very best theatre makers and we continue to nurture the talent of the future. We encourage everyone to enjoy a lifelong relationship with Shakespeare and live theatre. We reach 530,000 children and young people annually through our education work, transforming their experiences in the classroom, in performance and online. Registered charity no. 212481 www.rsc.org.uk. Playful Productions As Producer and General Manager productions include: Shrek The Musical UK & Ireland Tour, Edward Albee’s The Goat Or, Who is Sylvia? (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Don Juan in Soho (Wyndham’s); No Man’s Land (UK tour and Wyndham’s); Kinky Boots (Adelphi); Hangmen (Wyndham’s); American Buffalo (Wyndham’s); The Audience (Gielgud – which was also a worldwide digital broadcast with NT Live, Gerald Schoenfeld – Broadway, Apollo and Executive Producer on the Netflix TV series of The Crown series 1 & 2 (based on The Audience)); Wolf Hall: Parts 1 & 2 (Broadway); Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies (Aldwych); Shrek the Musical (UK & Ireland tour); The Weir (Wyndham’s); South Downs/The Browning Version (Harold Pinter); Sweeney Todd (Adelphi); Hay Fever (Noël Coward); Flare Path (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Yes, Prime Minister (Gielgud, Apollo, Trafalgar Studios and three UK tours); Krapp’s Last Tape (Duchess); Enron (Noël Coward); Red (Broadway); Hamlet (Broadway); Mary Stuart (Apollo and Broadway); Don Carlos (Gielgud) and Frost/Nixon (Gielgud and Broadway) and the forthcoming Shrek The Musical UK & Ireland Tour (December 2017), Quiz (Noel Coward Theatre, March 2018), The Moderate Soprano (Duke of York’s Theatre, April 2018) and Kinky Boots UK & Ireland Tour (September 2018). As General Manager productions include: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (Wyndham’s); An American in Paris (Dominion); Groundhog Day (Old Vic); Wicked (Apollo Victoria, two UK & Ireland tours and an international Tour); Blithe Spirit (Gielgud); Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane); Dirty Dancing (Aldwych, two UK tours and Piccadilly); Shrek the Musical (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane); Million Dollar Quartet (Noël Coward) and Clybourne Park (Wyndham’s). www.playfuluk.com .