Michael Boyd and Vikki Heywood to Leave RSC in 2012

Michael Boyd and Vikki Heywood will step down from their respective roles as Artistic Director and Executive Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company by the end of 2012. No successors have been named.

In a statement, Boyd said: “This is my tenth year as Artistic Director, and next year will be my last. I have always said that it would take ten years to make a genuine difference in the life and the soul of the company, and though ten years will not be enough to achieve all that I would like, it will be time for me to pass the challenges on to a new Artistic Director.”

In her statement, Heywood said: “I am immensely proud to have led the team that built arguably the finest theatre for Shakespeare in the world, which is loved by both artists and audiences. Delivering a £112.8m transformation project, which included a multi-award-winning theatre building, on time and on budget, has been one of the greatest achievements of my career. Michael and I have decided to leave at the same time because that is the right decision for the company. This is a planned and slow departure with a progressive transformation to a new leadership who will take the company forward for the next decade.