This article covers the Shakespeare productions which had opened at Stratford-upon-Avon and at Stratford, Ontario by August 1980, four each, and the National Theatre's production of Othello.

The Stratford-upon-Avon season began with Terry Hands's production of As You Like It. An obvious companion-piece to his 1979 Twelfth Night, it was primarily about love, and only very secondarily about anything else: the centre of the play was marvellous, the frame questionable. As with Twelfth Night, a wintry, black-and-white first half gave place to a variegated, dappled world of warm browns and greens in the second. The white fur surfaces of Farrah's set, suggesting luxury at court and snow in the country, were replaced by moss-covered trees and (again as in Twelfth Night) a profusion of daffodils and other spring flowers. Everyone at court wore uniform black and silver, even Rosalind and Celia, whose severe black velvet dresses were edged with more white fur.