Shakespeare company looks to stars

Recruited: Ralph Fiennes

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company has announced a big shake-up including moves to woo bigger audiences with Hollywood glamour.

The revered English institution is leaving its permanent home in the financial district of London to put on more productions in the capital's glitzier West End.

It is also plans a massive redevelopment at its base at Stratford, the Bard's birthplace in the English midlands, where there will be a three-auditorium theatre complex and a "nursery" for young classical actors.

Co-productions with commercial impresarios are being canvassed and there are plans to have regular residencies at universities on both the west and east coasts of America.

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But it is plans to pep up RSC casts with big-name stars which has courted the most attention.

Previously the shuttling between the hated Barbican base and Stratford -- a favourite destination for U.S. tourists -- has meant that most of the 100-strong company has had to be contracted for between 18 months and two years.

Few actors were willing or able to leave the London acting scene to commit to the RSC for so long.

But now there are plans for shorter runs and one-off shows to win back well-known stars who began with the RSC, including Dame Judi Dench, Juliet Stevenson, Joseph Fiennes and Emily Watson.

Ralph Fiennes is already booked to play Ibsen's "Brand" in London's West End and Kenneth Branagh has been recruited.

Contracts will be shorter and pay will be increased to give those who tread the boards a better deal.

A spokeswoman said the plans were designed to make the RSC a more attractive place to work for actors and directors. "The current RSC structure is a deterrent to many actors, largely due to the length of contract, which can be as long as two years."

Returning star: Kenneth Branagh

The move has partly been sparked by a new trend in London's theatreland where Kevin Spacey, Nicole Kidman, Amanda Donohue and Liam Neeson have been among big names grabbed for short but highly financially lucrative runs.

But the RSC has so far missed out. When Kevin Spacey was asked if he would like to play Hamlet or Macbeth at Statford, he reportedly replied: "It's the kind of thing you dream of, but it would have to be in another life."

Ironically one of the reasons the permanent company was founded 41 years ago was as a reaction to the power and demands of bill-topping actors.

The RSC's artistic director Adrian Noble said: "This country has some of the great arts institutions, but if we are going to keep them fresh and relevant to future generations we have to break the mould occasionally and give artists the space to experiment and innovate.

"The crucial thing about the process we have embarked upon is that it gives us the flexibility to stage bold and original theatre.

"We want to put on Shakespeare right in the heart of the West End. We want to produce great new plays not just in small studio spaces, but in larger venues where more people can see them."

The moves -- which will involve 85 job losses in London and up to 60 out of 500 in Stratford -- were met with disapproval from unions.

One broadcasting union called the move "commercial and cultural madness" and called for London mayor Ken Livingstone to intervene to keep the company at the Barbican.

The Barbican's artistic director Graham Sheffield said: "I look forward to a new relationship with the RSC and to collaborating with them to maximise the freedom, flexibility and quality of the programme in the Barbican Theatre."

Officially, the current operating agreement is due to end in May 2002 and both organisations are currently in discussion about their future relationship.