10 September 2018
Newsdesk
Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Theatre Royal Bath Productions today announce full casting for a brand new production and UK tour of the critically acclaimed West End play Shakespeare in Love. As previously announced, the play will be directed by Phillip Breen and opens at Theatre Royal Bath on Thursday 4 October 2018 with press night on Thursday 11 October and will then embark on a national tour to Nottingham, Malvern, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Chichester, with further venues to be announced.
Pierro Niel-Mee will star as Will Shakespeare with Imogen Daines as Viola, Rob Edwards as Fennyman, Geraldine Alexander as the Queen, Edmund Kingsley as Kit Marlowe, Bill Ward as Wessex, Ian Hughes as Henslowe, Giles Taylor as Tilney and De Lesseps, Edward Harrison as Burbage and Philip Labey as Sam. The cast also includes Rowan Polonski as Ned Alleyn/Catling, Kevin N Golding as Lambert/Wabash, Joshua Richards as Frees/Ralph, Jonathan Blaydon as Nol/Valentine, Richard Rowe McGhie as Adam, Rosalind Steele as Molly, Toby Webster as Peter/Robin and Jazmine Wilkinson as Webster/Mistress Quickly.
The Oscar-winning film Shakespeare in Love written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard and starring Judi Dench, Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow went on to win seven Academy Awards, including best screenplay, following its premiere in 1998. It was adapted for stage by Lee Hall, with music by Paddy Cunneen, and opened for a triumphant West End run in 2014 to both critical and public acclaim.
Young Will Shakespeare has writer’s block… the deadline for his new play – a comedy called Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter – is fast approaching, he’s struggling to finish the first line of a sonnet and he’s in dire need of inspiration. Then he meets the beguiling Viola de Lesseps, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant. Viola is prepared to do anything – including risking the frosty disapproval of Queen Elizabeth I – to fulfil her illicit dream of performing on the London stage and pursuing a passionate affair with the greatest playwright of the age.
Directed by Phillip Breen with design by Max Jones, lighting by Tina MacHugh, sound by Dyfan Jones, movement by Ayse Tashkiran, music by Paddy Cunneen and with Associate Producers Rebecca Stafford, Eilene Davidson and Mark Puddle.
Listings
Shakespeare in Love
Presented by Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Theatre Royal Bath Productions by special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Group and Sonia Friedman Productions
Based on the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard
Adapted by Lee Hall
Music by Paddy Cunneen
Directed by Phillip Breen
Designer: Max Jones
Lighting Designer: Tina MacHugh
Sound Designer: Dyfan Jones
Movement Director: Ayse Tashkiran
Associate Producers: Rebecca Stafford, Eilene Davidson, Mark Puddle
Theatre Royal Bath
Thursday 4 - Saturday 13 October
Press night: Thursday 11 October
Box Office: 01225 448815
www.theatreroyal.org.uk
Nottingham Theatre Royal
Tuesday 16 - Saturday 20 October
Box Office: 0115 989 5555
www.trch.co.uk
Malvern Festival Theatre
Tuesday 23 Oct - Saturday 27 October
Box Office: 01684 569256
www.malvern-theatres.co.uk
Oxford Playhouse
Tuesday 30 - Saturday 3 November
Box Office: 01865 305305
www.oxfordplayhouse.com
Cambridge Arts Theatre
Monday 5 - Saturday 10 November
Box Office: 01223 503333
www.cambridgeartstheatre.com
King’s Theatre Edinburgh
Monday 12 - Saturday 17 November
Box Office: 0131 529 6000
www.capitaltheatres.com/kings
Chichester Festival Theatre
Tuesday 20 - Saturday 24 November
Box Office: 01243 781312
www.cft.org.uk
FURTHER DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED
Cast biographies
Geraldine Alexander (Queen/Nurse) has worked extensively on stage and screen. Recent stage credits include Oslo (National Theatre), Persuasion, Breaking the Cofe (Royal Exchange), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (National Theatre UK tour). Her many TV credits include Marcella, The Jury, Father Brown, EastEnders, Jonathan Creek, Where the Heart Is, Taggart, Silent Witness.
Jonathan Blaydon (Nol/Valentine) was most recently seen in Romeo and Juliet at the Castlefield Bowl in Manchester. His theatre credits also include Happily Ever After (Metamorph Theatre), Lord Dismiss Us (Edinburgh Fringe/Above The Stag Theatre) and Julia Pastrana (Watershed Productions). Jonathan also performed on stage with the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in The Country Wife, We the Animals, Twelfth Night, Three Sisters and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
Imogen Daines (Viola) most recently starred in Private Lives (Oxford Shakespeare Company) earlier this year, and has previously appeared in Othello (English Theatre of Hamburg), Hamlet (Flute Theatre, ETT), Trevor Nunn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (New Wolsey) and The Wars of the Roses (Rose Theatre, Kingston), Coram Boy (National Theatre). Her screen credits include Netflix’s Black Mirror, ITV’s Chasing Shadows, CBBC’s The Story of Tracy Beaker and the film adaptation of On Chesil Beach.
Rob Edwards (Fennyman) has starred in the West End as Scar in Disney’s The Lion King and regularly with the RSC and Bolton Octagon. His most recent credits for stage include To Kill A Mockingbird, The Winter’s Tale, Enemy of the People, Noises Off (Bolton Octagon), and, for television, Men Who Sleep in Cars and Holby City. Previous credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Chichester Festival Theatre), Let Them Eat Cake, Of Thee I Sing (Opera North), The Merry Wives of Windsor, Women Beware Women, Julius Caesar, Hamlet (RSC), and the Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation of Hamlet.
Kevin N Golding (Lambert/Wabash) was seen earlier this year in the UK and US tours of Hamlet and King Lear with the RSC. His other stage credits include The Sting (Wilton’s Music Hall), Sense of An Ending (Theatre 503), Play Mas (Orange Tree Theatre) and Othello (White Bear Theatre). He has appeared in Dark Matters, Silent Witness and House of Games for television and It Never Sleeps and Lost a Girl for film.
Edward Harrison (Burbage) starred most recently in Holes at Nottingham Playhouse. Previous stage credits include Wolf Hall/Bring Up The Bodies (Broadway), Kenneth Branagh’s Macbeth (New York), Baskerville (Liverpool Playhouse), Constellations (Singapore REP), All My Sons (Rose Theatre, Kingston), Tomcat (Southward Playhouse). Screen credits include Doctor Who, Genius: Einstein, Oska Bayte and I, An Outcast.
Ian Hughes (Henslowe) has a varied stage career with performances in Strife (Chichester Festival Theatre), Guys & Dolls (Savoy Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre), Donkey’s Years (Rose Theatre, Kingston), The 39 Steps (Criterion Theatre), The Lion King (Lyceum), The Merry Wives of Windsor, Comedy of Errors, Hamlet (RSC) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (London Palladium). Television credits include Shakespeare and Hathaway, The Alienist, Doctor Who and Torchwood.
Edmund Kingsley (Kit Marlowe) has made numerous appearances across film, television and theatre. Films include Madness in the Method, Interlude in Prague, Hernalsian Elysium, Tomorrow and Capsule for which he won six Best Actor Awards in festivals across Europe and America. On stage Edmund starred in The Secret Theatre (Shakespeare’s Globe), Seven Acts of Mercy, Hecuba, Richard III (RSC), The Keepers of Infinite Space (Park Theatre), The River Line (Jermyn Street Theatre). His television credits include Doctors, ITV’s Jekyll and Hyde and Breathless, Life in Squares and Casualty.
Philip Labey’s (Sam) television appearances include the new adaptation of Vanity Fair, The Royals, Holby City and Casualty, and, for film, On Chesil Beach and London Wall. Philip’s stage credits include Posh (Nottingham Playhouse/Salisbury Playhouse), First Episode (Jermyn Street Theatre), Not About Heroes (Theatre by the Lake), The History Boys (Mercury Theatre), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (Belgrade) and Peter Pan (New Vic).
Pierro Niel-Mee (Will Shakespeare) most recently starred in the RSC productions of The Hypocrite and Imperium. His previous stage credits also include Kenny (Arcola),Wolf Hall/Bring up the Bodies (West End and Broadway). For television, his credits include Lewis, Casualty, and Bouquet of Barbed Wire.
Rowan Polonski’s (Ned Aleyn / Catling) theatre credits include Cockamamy (Hope Theatre, Islington), Litus (Cervantes Theatre), The Hypocrite (Hull Truck/RSC), The Acedian Pirates (Theatre 503), Desert Rats (Arts Theatre) and Another Country (Trafalgar Studios). On screen Rowan has appeared in the 2018 Tomb Raider film, BBC’s Good Omens and Doctor Who.
Joshua Richards (Frees/Ralph) has appeared numerous times with the RSC, most recently in the UK and international tours of Richard II and Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, plus Death of a Salesman, The Canterbury Tales, Edward III and As You Like It among others. On TV he starred in BBC’s A Very English Scandal, ITV’s Downton Abbey, The Richard Burton Diaries and High Hopes. Film credits include the award winning Playing Burton.
Richard Rowe McGhie (Barman/Adam/Guard) is a recent graduate from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. He has appeared in Feathers in the Snow (The Unicorn), A-Level Playing Field (Shoreditch Town Hall) and Vernon God Little (Bridewell Theatre). Television includes The Killer Beside Me, Channel 4’s Electric Dreams and ITV’s Inspector Lewis.
Rosalind Steele’s (Molly) stage credits include The Box of Delights (Wilton’s Music Hall), The Life and Times of Fanny Hill (Bristol Old Vic) and As You Like It (Oxford Shakespeare Company). She has also performed on Broadway in The Snail and the Whale as well as touring the USA with the production. Her musical credits include Alice with the Erasmus International Musical and Theatre Company as well as Swallows and Amazons (Theatre by the Lake).
Giles Taylor (Tilney / De Lesseps) has appeared in the West End, on Broadway and at numerous regional theatres with stage credits including Twelfth Night, A Christmas Carol (RSC), This House (Chichester Festival Theatre/Garrick), King Charles III (national tour and Australia), Wolf Hall/Bring Up The Bodies (West End and Broadway), An Ideal Husband (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Secret Garden (Birmingham REP). For television, his credits include Mr Selfridge, Victoria, The Musketeers, Foyle’s War, Doctors, Stuart: A Life Backwards.
Bill Ward (Wessex) is best known for playing James Barton in Emmerdale and Charlie Stubbs Coronation Street with further television appearances in EastEnders, The Bill, Silent Witness and True Crime among others. On stage he most recently starred in the national tours of Legally Blond and Not Dead Enough, and previously in Viva Forever, Million Dollar Quartet, Spamalot (West End) and The Hairy Ape (Southwark Playhouse).
Toby Webster’s (Peter/Robin) stage credits include OppenHeimer (RSC), Oedipus (Matchstick Theatre Company), Jukebox – No Filter (Siberian Lights), Pride and Prejudice, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Illyria Theatre Company). He has appeared on television in Doctors and in film in London Road and Everest.
Jazmine Wilkinson (Webster/Mistress Quickly) most recently appeared in the world premiere of Gilgamesh at the White Bear Theatre. Her stage credits also include Shadow Games (Tour), Lion in the Streets (Rose Bruford), The Crucible (Rose Bruford) and Threeway (Edinburgh Fringe).
