One of the UK’s leading cultural institutions, a global centre of excellence for theatre and an innovative charity, the Royal Shakespeare Company has been sharing its inspirational productions with a worldwide audience for over 100 years. Now, in partnership with licensing agency Brandgenuity, it’s venturing into licensing for the very first time. LicensingSource.net finds out more.
“The RSC has an incredible history but it hasn’t been offered for licensing until now. It’s brand new to market and it’s really exciting to bring partners something they haven’t seen before,” says Brandgenuity’s md Teri Niadna. And there’s a lot to see. The RSC’s vast archive – all available to licensees – contains well over 100,000 pieces, ranging from posters, prints, playbills and photographs, to dresses, jewellery, suits of armour and props such as daggers and skulls. What’s more, it’s a treasure trove that’s constantly updating, as new productions are staged by new directors.
“I’ll never forget my first time with the team going up to Stratford-upon-Avon and looking at all the beautiful and astonishing things that the RSC has,” says Teri. “What impressed us most was that you can walk around and watch the craftspeople at work. There are costume designers and milliners there; there’s even an armoury producing weapons. It’s a place like no other, dedicated to preserving theatre crafts and acting as a global centre of excellence for how to create the worlds that we, the audience, see on stage.”
Promoting excellence in craftsmanship is just one strand of the RSC’s mission. Its key purpose is to ensure that Shakespeare is for everyone, a goal it pursues through live performances and via its extensive education department and global outreach programme, which extends as far afield as India, Australia and China. Add in the nascent licensing programme, and the RSC is poised to connect Shakespeare and his works with a wider audience than ever before.
“The timing is perfect,” Teri asserts. “Period TV shows like Bridgerton have fuelled public interest in historical drama, and ‘Regencycore’ products are everywhere. Theatrical licensing is another trend, and museums have become an evergreen category of licensing. Also, we know from our research that younger consumers are looking for authenticity in the brands they engage with, they want to know that those brands are contributing positively to the world. With its cultural and educational mission, the RSC certainly does that.”
Young people aged 18+ who are “interested in culture, and who are drawn to the stories and characters and the timelessness of Shakespeare’s words”, are a key target demographic for the licensing programme, along with a core audience of (largely female) literature fans aged 35 and over, and existing fans of the RSC’s work. “We think we can surprise and delight all these consumers by showing them elements from Shakespeare in new environments,” says Teri.
An initial style guide, produced with Skew Studio, has distilled the essence of just some of the archival treasures to give would-be licensees a glimpse of the product design possibilities, and features Tudor tapestry-like patterns, quotations in distinctive fonts, and ripped-up playbills with punk-esque splashes of neon. Licensees can also explore the archive themselves – much of it is digitised, and searchable by key words – and are welcome to make their own creative suggestions.
“The RSC is a very creative and forward-thinking institution,” says Teri. “Ideas from partners are welcomed.”
As a heritage brand, the RSC is a natural fit for lifestyle categories. Brandgenuity will be focusing initially on fashion, beauty, stationery, collectables and beverages. “Given all the fantastic decorative elements in the archive and the style guide, we believe the brand would work really well in the home category, too,” Teri adds.
Key markets for the first wave of licensing are Europe and the US, where the RSC has a long history of touring, with product hitting shelves at the back end of 2025.
“There really couldn’t be a better time for the RSC’s licensing debut,” Teri concludes “With so many consumer trends aligning, we think the market will embrace this. Shakespeare’s universe is rich with heroes and villains, and with romance, comedy and tragedy. There truly are characters and themes for every occasion and we could not be more excited to give consumers new ways to experience these iconic heroes and stories. You have Juliet, Lady Macbeth, Hamlet… It’s easy to see how even one of those characters could inspire a whole range of products. We’re excited to dig in.”
About the RSC
- Based in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Royal Shakespeare Company was founded in 1961, and stages productions in the town’s Royal Shakespeare and Swan theatres.
- More than 900,000 theatre lovers attended an RSC production in 2023.
- Last year, the RSC broadcast four Shakespeare productions across the globe to 28 countries through Live from Stratford-upon-Avon cinema screenings, including in 250 cinemas in China.
- Each year the RSC reaches more than 1,200 schools and 500,000 children and young people through its education works.
- The RSC has 1.2 million global supporters on its online social channels.
This feature originally appeared in the autumn 2024 edition of Licensing Source Book. To read the full publication, click on this link.
