STAGE

Shakespeare Company to Shut Theaters: The Royal Shakespeare Company announced Thursday it will close its two London theaters, the Barbican and the Pit, for four months, citing the need for what Falstaff called a “remedy against this consumption of the purse.” The theater’s staff of nearly 70 in London will draw half its regular pay while performances are suspended, beginning Nov. 5, said artistic director Terry Hands. The current sellout productions of “Hamlet” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” plus the company’s earnings from the international hit “Les Miserables,” were not enough to make up for a financial shortfall, Hands said.