Creative Strategy: Reconnecting Business and Innovation

ACT V: CURTAIN CALL

The fifth act is where Shakespeare's plays end, often in marriage or death. Shakespeare's Richard III, the final part in the Histories cycle, ends with a new beginning as Richmond introduces the new Tudor regime which emerges from years of war at home and abroad – in Boyd's production the moment is given added weight as the actor delivering the final lines is recognizable as the impetuous young Hotspur and as the son killed by his father in the earlier plays, now speaking with a hard-won maturity.

Boyd's own journey since taking over the company in 2003 has followed a similar trajectory of triumph from adversity, marrying commercial success with cultural relevance and laying to rest the company's troubled past. Over the last seven years, the RSC's creative strategy has encompassed artistic renewal and managerial change.

The journey takes us back to a question with which we started this book: what is the relationship between commerce and creativity, and how can we see creative thinking and strategy working in partnership, rather than at loggerheads?

Artistically, the impetus of the RSC's creative strategy has ignited fresh innovations. The ensemble model has been extended, with a new group of actors working on a new set of plays, beginning with As You Like It in 2009. The company has expanded its range by inviting in new associate directors and forging links with younger, more ‘experimental’ theatre companies as well as international partners; this follows the ...