The Royal Shakespeare Company has had some rocky years recently. But the larger measure of the company’s dire situation is beginning to dawn. “There are fears it might be too late to save a company riddled with debt, lacking a London base, rumoured to be cutting costs on productions, stunned by the resignation of its chairman, ‘on trial’ for its public funding and trailing in the wake of the powerhouse National Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe. Some observers have already begun to think the unthinkable: that the Arts Council might axe its £13.3 million grant to the RSC. There is even speculation in theatre circles that the RSC’s right to use the term ‘Royal’ could be in jeopardy.”