Shakespeare’s Globe have announced that Olivier Award-winning actor and writer Michelle Terry will be its Artistic Director from April 2018.
Michelle is well-known to the Globe’s stage, having starred as Rosalind in As You Like It (2015), as Titania/Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2013) and as the Princess of France in Love’s Labour’s Lost (2007). She also directed Richard III, King John and As You Like It for The Complete Walk (2016), a series of short films created as part of the Globe’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
Michelle Terry said: “The work of Shakespeare is for me timeless, mythic, mysterious, vital, profoundly human and unapologetically theatrical. There are no other theatres more perfectly suited to house these plays than the pure and uniquely democratic spaces of The Globe and the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. I am so proud and excited that I will be in the privileged position where I can offer artists the opportunity to come together to reclaim and rediscover not only Shakespeare, but the work of his contemporaries, alongside new work from our current writers. For us to then share those stories with an audience that demands an unparalleled honesty, clarity and bravery, is all a dream come true.”
Neil Constable, Chief Executive of Shakespeare’s Globe, said: “I am delighted to announce Michelle Terry as the Globe’s next Artistic Director. Audiences have loved her sparkling and intelligent performances on our stage over the years – now they will have the opportunity to see her fresh artistic vision come to life as she moves into a new phase of her impressive career. The Board and I congratulate her on her successful application, and very much look forward to working with her from April 2018.”
Michelle most recently starred as the eponymous king in Henry V at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, and as Grace in Katie Mitchell’s production of Cleansed for the National Theatre. Her other stage credits include Much Ado About Nothing, The Crucible and Love’s Labour’s Lost (Royal Shakespeare Company), All’s Well That Ends Well (National Theatre), Privacy (Donmar Warehouse) and In The Republic of Happiness (Royal Court). She won an Olivier Award for her performance in Tribes at the Royal Court in 2010 and she is an Associate Artist for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Michelle Terry will be Artistic Director Designate from Monday 2 October 2017 and she will be Artistic Director from Sunday 22 April 2018. Emma Rice remains as Artistic Director until 21 April 2018.