More than half of the Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) staff are being encouraged to apply for voluntary redundancy as the arts institution faces a shortfall of between £5m and £6m. The RSC, which employs 835 people, has made 420 staff eligible for the scheme in an effort to make 'urgent' savings.
In a joint statement, executive director Andrew Leveson and co-artistic directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey attributed the budget hole to rising staffing costs after the pandemic, a decline in public investment, and the cost of living crisis affecting takings. They said the organisation was experiencing 'increasing demands on government spend in intensely challenging economic circumstances'.
Staff have been told that the shortfall could rise significantly unless cuts are made in the short to medium term. A spokesperson confirmed that a compulsory redundancy scheme would begin if insufficient people take up the voluntary offer. The RSC is also implementing 'operational efficiencies' and seeking to generate additional income.
Leveson told the Stage newspaper that many organisations were struggling, but blamed the RSC's woes on a 'year-on-year gap between what it costs to run the organisation and what we are capable of generating in income to support that'. He noted that income from the West End production of Matilda, which generated £30m for the RSC, had slowed significantly in the last year.
This is the largest redundancy programme at the RSC since 2020, when cuts were announced during the pandemic. Despite the financial challenges, the RSC recently announced its full spring season for 2026, featuring Kenneth Branagh in The Tempest and Helen Hunt in The Cherry Orchard.
