Royal Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Michael Boyd to Leave Post in 2012

The Royal Shakespeare Company's artistic director Michael Boyd and the company's executive director, Vikki Heywood, will step down from their positions at the end of 2012, according to U.K.'s The Guardian. No replacements have been named; RSC chairman Nigel Hugill is expected to put together a selection committee to choose new artistic leaders early next year.

"I have always said that it would take 10 years to make a genuine difference in the life and the soul of the company, and though 10 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," Boyd told the paper of his decade with the company. Heywood added, "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."

In the last year the RSC celebrated its 50th anniversary, announced plans to stage a world Shakespeare festival as part as the upcoming Cultural Olympiad before London's 2012 summer Olympics and produced Matilda: the Musical, which recently transferred to the West End.