Groff, Walter, and the RSC’s Bold New Lineup – front mezz junkies, Theater News

Frontmezzjunkies reports: The Royal Shakespeare Company Announces Its 2026–27 Season

By Ross

Theatre envy is a very real condition, and this week it arrived courtesy of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Reading through the company’s newly announced 2026–27 season felt like scrolling through a list of performances already playing huge in my imagination, even as I quietly (regretfully) accepted that I may not actually be able to get to Stratford-upon-Avon to see any of them unfold.

The headline that sparks the most thrilling excitement (and envy) is the casting itself. Jonathan Groff (Broadway’s Just In Time) will lead an all-male As You Like It. It’s a bold re-imagining of the play’s gender dynamics, and the casting of Groff is a choice that feels especially inspired, as he is an actor whose openness and emotional intelligence thrive in Shakespeare’s worlds of disguise and self-discovery. It’s a riveting idea to even ponder. Equally thrilling is the return of the incomparable Harriet Walter in the role of Brutus in Julius Caesar, reviving Phyllida Lloyd’s landmark all-female production first seen at the Donmar Warehouse (and by me at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn). Walter’s previous collaborations with Lloyd (Henry IV, The Tempest) have already reshaped how audiences encounter Shakespeare, and the idea of this politically charged staging touring schools before landing at The Other Place gives the project an added sense of purpose and urgency.

Beyond those marquee names, the season leans confidently into reinvention. A two-part adaptation of Middlemarch, a new take on The Three Musketeers, and the previously announced Game of Thrones: The Mad King suggest a company interested in scale, experimentation, and accessibility in equal measure. The RSC’s continued commitment to education and its Associate Schools Programme also threads meaningfully through the season, shining a solid light on the company’s mission, one that extends well beyond performance into the shaping of future theatre makers and audiences.

Realistically, even during my upcoming London theatrical visit this May, I will probably not make it to Stratford-upon-Avon, England (although I will, thankfully, be at the Canadian Stratford Festival for their opening nights). That English miss is a realization that carries a small sting. Still, seasons like this have a way of traveling. Many British productions have found vibrant second lives in New York, landing at venues such as St. Ann’s Warehouse or Brooklyn Academy of Music, where adventurous audiences eagerly embrace work born across the Atlantic being relived across the river. With artists like Groff and Walter at the center, it feels entirely possible that one of these productions could cross the sea. Until then, this is one of those announcements that turns anticipation itself into a kind of theatre, the pleasure of imagining performances you hope someday to witness in person. Cross your fingers for us all.