RSC bookings hit by world IT outage, while premiere of As You Like It is axed

The Royal Shakespeare Company booking system has crashed due to the global IT outage.

It is the second technical problem to have scuppered the company in the last day, with yesterday’s first performance of As You Like It at the outdoor theatre cancelled at short notice due to “issues beyond its control”.

It has now been confirmed (as of 3pm) that this afternoon’s performance of As You Like It will go ahead.

A glitch with the Microsoft 365 Windows system has taken much of the world’s infrastructure offline, leaving major companies unable to operate and individuals unable to log on to their PCs.

Transport is in chaos, with delays and cancellations to airline and train services, while banks and payment companies have also been severely affected by what is being called the ‘worst IT outage the world has ever seen’.

It is not thought to be the work of hackers, and Microsoft 365 said that it was investigating the problem and “continue to take mitigation actions”.

The full statement from the RSC on the issues with As You Like It reads: “Due to technical issues beyond our control we unfortunately had to cancel the first preview of As You Like It in The Holloway Garden Theatre on Thursday 18 July at 5pm. We have contacted those who booked for the show, and they were offered a full refund or the chance to rebook for another performance.”