This April, the new artistic director of the Shakespeare’s Globe, Michelle Terry, will tread the boards of the iconic theatre as the titular character in a gender-blind production of Hamlet.
The cast of Hamlet will also perform As You Like It during the same season. There is a 50:50 gender split between the 12 actors and the roles are both gender and race blind.
In Hamlet – opening on 25 April – Michelle will be joined on stage by male actor Shubham Saraf who will play the role of Ophelia. Catrin Aaron, Bettrys Jones, Nadia Nadarajah, and Tanika Yearwood will play the opposite gendered roles of Horatio, Laertes, Guildenstern, and Marcellus respectively.
For As You Like It – opening 2 May – Michelle will play Adam, while Tanika, Bettrys, and Helen Schlesinger take on the roles of Amiens, Orlando, and Duke Federick respectively. James Garnon will play Audrey and Jack Laskey will portray Rosalind.
Colin Hurley and Richard Katz round off the cast.
Michelle Terry in rehearsal for Henry V at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre (Photo: Johan Persson)
Hamlet and As You Like It were both written in 1599, the same year the original Globe was built.
The company of actors will explore the two plays together as an ensemble, as if for the very first time, with the unique opportunity of being able to play them in the theatrical space for which they were written.
The plays will be directed by Federay Holmes and Elle While.
Hamlet will run from 25 April – 26 August 2018, and As You Like It will run from 2 May – 26 August 2018.
If you want to see Hamlet or As You Like It, please visit the Shakespeare’s Globe site. To find out more about the Shakespeare’s Globe, visit our venue page.