The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air’s Joseph Marcell and Father Ted’s Pauline McLynn will play husband and wife in Cymbeline when Shakespeare’s late romance runs at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse this winter.
The pair, best known for playing waiting staff in hit comedies – Marcell played the ever-dry Geoffrey the butler in Will Smith vehicle Fresh Prince, while McLynn is best known as Father Ted’s housekeeper Mrs Doyle – will play the titular King of Britain and his Queen in the production that begins its run in the Globe’s indoor space on 2 December.
For both it will be a return to the venue where Marcell last appeared in Osmeros, a performance he will recreate between 26 and 31 October, and McLynn starred in The Knight Of The Burning Pestle.
Shakespeare’s tale of lost children, assumed identities and multiple murderous plots also stars current star of The Importance Of Being Earnest, Emily Barber, and The Effect’s Jonjo O’Neill.
The production is directed by Sam Yates, who directed East Is East as part of the Jamie Lloyd-created Trafalgar Transformed and has recently directed the short film The Hope Rooms starring Sherlock’s Andrew Scott.
Cymbeline runs in rep with Pericles (from 19 November), which also features a British sitcom star, Benidorm’s Sheila Reid.
Reid plays Gower alongside Simon Armstrong, who played Quorin Halfhand in Game Of Thrones, as Antiochus and Globe regular James Garnon in the title role. So connected with the iconic theatre, in fact, is Garnon that this will be his 10th consecutive year performing on its stages.
Pericles, like Cymbeline, is one of Shakespeare’s late works. With a hint of the fairy tale to it, it tells of a prince forced to flee his own kingdom, for whom shipwrecks bring both good and band fortune. The production will be the penultimate play directed by the Globe’s Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole before he steps down to be replaced by Emma Rice.
The pair of productions are joined in the winter season of the Bard’s later plays by The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest.