Shakespeare’s Globe is delighted to announce Michelle Terry’s first season as Artistic Director. 2018’s Shakespeare productions include Hamlet, As You Like It, The Two Noble Kinsmen, The Winter’s Tale, Othello and Love’s Labour’s Lost. A premiere of three new plays, a national and international tour of Shakespeare and other performances on and off site are announced together with a year-long programme of events exploring the history and future of theatre censorship, as well as a series of events looking at race, refuge and refugees in relation to Shakespeare.
Opening the season on 25 April will be Hamlet, which will play alongside As You Like It from 2 May. Both written around 1599, the year the original Globe was built, these plays will be presented by The Globe Ensemble, which includes, amongst others, the following artists: Federay Holmes, Bettrys Jones, Jack Laskey, Nadia Nadarajah, Pearce Quigley, Shubham Saraf, Elle While, Tanika Yearwood and Michelle Terry. This group of artists will explore these well-thumbed and popular plays as if for the first time, with the unique opportunity of being able to play them in the theatre for which they were written.
Brendan O’Hea will direct a tour of eight actors with The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night. The three plays will open at the Globe before setting out on a national and international tour where they will offer the audience the chance to pick their choice from the three plays, mimicking a tradition from Shakespeare’s day. A director, actor, and education practitioner, Brendan has previously performed in a number of productions at Shakespeare’s Globe including Cymbeline (2015), Measure for Measure (2015), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2014), and Henry V (2012).
From 25 May, The Two Noble Kinsmen by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare will be directed by Barrie Rutter. Barrie is soon to be directing and appearing in his forthcoming production of The Captive Queen in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as part of the 2017/18 winter season, coproduced by Northern Broadsides. The Two Noble Kinsmen will be Barrie’s first play since stepping down as Artistic Director of Northern Broadsides. From 22 June, The Winter’s Tale will be directed by Blanche McIntyre. Blanche returns to the Globe, having previously directed The Comedy of Errors (2014) and As You Like It (2015). Winner of the 2011 Critics’ Circle Most Promising Newcomer Award for Accolade and Foxfinder (Finborough Theatre), she has most recently directed The Norman Conquests, a trilogy of plays by Alan Ayckbourn at Chichester Festival Theatre. She has also recently worked at the Donmar Warehouse, Nottingham Playhouse and the RSC.
In response to Refugee Week (18 – 24 June), the Globe will present a festival of events exploring Shakespeare’s response to refuge and refugees. The week will include the premiere of Nanjing, a piece about identity, dispossession, and the consequences of war. Written and performed by Jude Christian, it tells the story of the Nanjing Massacre of 1937, frequently referred to as the Rape of Nanking. Jude’s credits include directing at the Royal Court (Bodies, Lela & Co.) and she is Associate Artist at the Gate Theatre, the Yard Theatre and the Lyric, Hammersmith.
From 20 July, Othello will be directed by Claire van Kampen, starring André Holland as Othello and Mark Rylance as Iago. André Holland is best known for his roles in Academy Award-winning films Moonlight and Selma. The multi-award-winning actor’s other screen credits include 42 and The Knick. Theatre credits include Jitney (Broadway), Blue Door (Playwrights Horizons), Wig Out (Vineyard Theatre), The Brother/Sister Plays (Public Theater) and All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare in the Park).
Mark Rylance is currently starring in the Globe’s production of Farinelli and the King on Broadway (originally produced under Dominic Dromgoole’s tenure as Artistic Director). He was the founding Artistic Director of the Globe, acting for ten years between 1996 – 2005, playing a multitude of roles including the Countess Olivia in Twelfth Night and Richard in Richard III (Shakespeare’s Globe, West End, Broadway). Further stage credits include Jerusalem (Royal Court, West End) and Boeing-Boeing (West End, Broadway). His screen credits include Wolf Hall, Dunkirk, The BFG and Bridge of Spies. Claire van Kampen most recently directed Nice Fish in 2016 (St Ann’s Warehouse, New York & West End), and wrote Farinelli and the King. From 1997, she was the Globe’s founding Director of Theatre Music, creating both period and contemporary music for approximately 50 of the Globe’s productions. She is Creative Associate of The Old Vic and has continued to be the Globe Associate for Early Modern Theatre Music since 2007.
Throughout February to September, a series of events will focus on Shakespeare and Censorship. Censorship of British theatre started in 1737 and officially ended 50 years ago on 26 September 1968. This bold series of events explores censorship from historical, national and international viewpoints, and explores what the future may hold. From 12 August, Shakespeare and Race will be a festival of events which will include performances, workshops, public lectures, panels and an international conference. Curated to draw attention to and provide a platform for scholars, practitioners and educators of colour in the teaching, study and performance of Shakespeare, this festival will highlight the importance of race to the consideration of Shakespeare not only in his time, but more urgently, in our own.
From 23 August, Love’s Labour’s Lost will be directed by Nick Bagnall in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Nick is Associate Director of the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse. His previous Globe directing credits include The Two Gentlemen of Verona (co-production with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, 2016), The Odyssey: Missing, Presumed Dead (2015), The Last Days of Troy (2014), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (2014) and Henry VI: Parts I, II and III (2013). Other credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Liverpool Everyman) and Entertaining Mr Sloane (Trafalgar Studios).
Two new plays will premiere on The Globe stage this summer. Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s Emilia (10 August – 1 September), directed by Nicole Charles, will explore the life of Emilia Bassano, whom many consider to be the Dark Lady of the Sonnets, but was also a writer, poet, mother, feminist and woman in her own right. This summer will be an opportunity to follow the elusive ‘Emilia’ as she threads her way through the canon from the ‘Dark Lady of the Sonnets’, to Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Othello and The Winter’s Tale – every play in which Emilia appears, apart from Emilia the Abbess in The Comedy of Errors. Playwright and screenwriter Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s play Belongings (Hampstead Theatre, Trafalgar Studios) was shortlisted for The Charles Wintour Most Promising Playwright Award, followed by The Wasp (Hampstead Theatre, Trafalgar Studios). In 2016, she was selected for the BBC TV Drama Writers Programme and commissioned to write a 60-minute original television drama. Nicole Charles most recently assistant directed at the Globe for The Taming of the Shrew (2016). Other assistant directing credits include The Jungle (Young Vic) and The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? (Theatre Royal Haymarket).
Emilia will be followed by Matt Hartley’s Eyam (15 September – 13 October), directed by Adele Thomas. When the plague arrives surprisingly in the Derbyshire village of Eyam in 1665, the community face the moral dilemma of having to decide whether to flee and risk spreading the vicious disease or stay, protect others from the risk, but face the potential of their own slow and painful death. Adele Thomas’s previous Globe credits include Thomas Tallis (2014 & 2015), The Oresteia (2015) and The Knight of the Burning Pestle (2014 & 2015). Other credits include Cosi Fan Tutte (Northern Ireland Opera), The Weir (ETT), Macbeth (Tobacco Factory), The Bloody Ballad (Gagglebabble and Tour), The Passion and The Passion: One Year On (as Project Associate for National Theatre Wales), Under Milk Wood (Royal & Derngate), No Vacancies and Delugue (Sherman Cymru). Matt Hartley’s recent work includes Myth (RSC), Here I Belong (Pentabus), Deposit (Hampstead), winning the Bruntwood Award with Sixty Five Miles (Paines Plough / Hull Truck Theatre).
As part of a series of scenes, sonnets and songs, a unique event at Westminster Abbey, All Places that the Eye of Heaven Visits returns. In celebration of Shakespeare’s birthday, Mark Rylance will join a company of 23 actors, as Shakespeare’s plays, poetry and song are brought to life in fleeting and intimate encounters throughout the Abbey. Shakespeare’s birthday weekend will also include the Globe and Mark’s annual Sonnet Walks: Sweet Love Remember’d, a walk through Shakespeare’s London brought alive by actors. Conceived by Mark Rylance, Sonnet Walks: Sweet Love Remember’d will take place Saturday 28 April – Sunday 29 April, tracing routes through Westminster and the City and finishing at the Globe. This sonnet journey will culminate in Sonnet Sunday: Ten Times Happy Me (2 September). This site specific venture will give audiences the rare opportunity to experience all of the sonnets from 1 – 154 over the course of one day as we celebrate Shakespeare with our local, national and international community.
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GLOBE THEATRE
Hamlet
by William Shakespeare
25 April – 26 August 2018
As You Like It
by William Shakespeare
2 May – 26 August 2018
Press Day Thursday 17 May
(As You Like It & Hamlet to press on the same day)
The Two Noble Kinsmen
by John Fletcher and William Shakespeare
Directed by Barrie Rutter
25 May – 30 June 2018
Press Night Wednesday 30 May
The Winter’s Tale
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Blanche McIntyre
22 June – 14 October 2018
Press Night Wednesday 27 June
Othello
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Claire van Kampen
20 July – 13 October 2018
Press Night Wednesday 1 August
Emilia
by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm
Directed by Nicole Charles
10 August – 1 September 2018
Press Night Wednesday 15 August
Eyam
by Matt Hartley
Directed by Adele Thomas
15 September – 13 October 2018
Press Night Thursday 20 September
SAM WANAMAKER PLAYHOUSE
Love’s Labour’s Lost
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Nick Bagnall
23 August – 15 September 2018
Press Night Wednesday 29 August
Nanjing
by Jude Christian
Friday 22 June – Sunday 24 June 2018
SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE ON TOUR
Twelfth Night
The Merchant of Venice
The Taming of the Shrew
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Brendan O’Hea
Globe Theatre
8 – 19 May; 6 – 9 September
Chilham Castle, Kent
25 – 27 May
Art Carnuntum, Austria
29 June – 1 July
Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond,
North Yorkshire
5 – 8 July
Brighton Open Air Theatre
11 –14 July
Oxford Bodleian Library Quad
18 – 29 July
Further venues TBA
Press Night Friday 18 May, Globe Theatre
ASSISTED PERFORMANCES
Hamlet
Relaxed 12 August
Captioned 5 July
BSL 29 July;
Audio Described 8 July
As You Like It
Relaxed 19 August
Captioned 3 July
BSL 1 July
Audio Described 10 June
The Two Noble Kinsmen
Relaxed 16 June
Captioned 26 June
BSL 9 June
Audio Described 16 June
The Winter’s Tale
Relaxed 7 October
Captioned 2 October
BSL 30 September
Audio Described 23 September
Othello
Relaxed 9 October
Captioned 6 October
BSL 21 September
Audio Described 1 September
Emilia
Captioned 30 August
Audio Described 25 August
Eyam
Captioned 7 October
Audio Described 13 October
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Relaxed 10 October
Captioned 11-15 October
Audio Described 15 October
SHAKESPEARE AND RACE
An American Moor
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Sunday 12 August
Staging Race and Diversity in the Shakespearean
Theatre
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Monday 13 August
Sam Wanamaker Fellowship Lecture
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Tuesday 14 August
Morgan Lloyd Malcolm in Conversation
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Wednesday 15 August
Women and Theatre in Britain
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Thursday 16 August
Playing Othello
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Friday 17 August
Shakespeare and Race Across Borders: A Scholarly
Symposium
Nancy Knowles Lecture Theatre
Friday 17 August, 10.00am – 5.00pm
& Saturday 18 August, 10.00am – 5.00pm
SHAKESPEARE AND CENSORSHIP
Theatre Censorship: Still Alive and Kicking?
Milton Court, Silk Street
Wednesday 21 February, 7.00pm
Censorship: Then and Now
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Thursday 17 May, 7.00pm
Liberty, Freedom and Enfranchisement:
Press Censorship and the Commonwealth
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Thursday 24 May, 7.00pm
Shakespeare Censored?
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Thursday 28 June, 7.00pm
Shakespeare Under the Radar
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Thursday 5 July, 7.00pm
Censored No More?
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Thursday 20 September, 7.00pm
Rebellion in Action
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Friday 28 September, 7.00pm
ALL PLACES THAT THE EYE OF HEAVEN VISITS
Westminster Abbey
Thursday 26, Friday 27 & Saturday 28 April
SONNET WALKS
Sweet Love Remember’d
Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 April
11.00am – 1.30pm, groups leave every 15 minutes
Sonnet Sunday
Shakespeare’s Globe
Sunday 2 September
