Shakespeare’s Globe have announced the line-up of Emma Rice’s 2017 final summer season, ‘Summer Of Love’, before she leaves her post as Artistic Director in April 2018.
The season will open on 22 April with the Bard’s seminal tale of star-crossed lovers in Verona, Romeo And Juliet, directed by the renowned Artistic Director of the English National Opera, Daniel Kramer. Daniel has previously led acclaimed productions such as Tristan And Isolde at the ENO, and the award-winning Punch And Judy at the Grand Théâtre Geneva and ENO.
The classic romance will be followed by an exciting return for Jessica Swale’s Best New Comedy Olivier Award-winning show Nell Gwynn, which was last seen tickling the sides of West End audiences at the Apollo Theatre earlier this year. Directed by Christopher Luscombe, Laura Pitt-Pulford will tackle the eponymous role of the actress and mistress of Charles II, last played in London’s Theatreland by fellow Olivier nominee Gemma Arterton.
18 May will see Artistic Director Emma’s new production of Twelfth Night arrive at the venue, telling a beloved tale of love and loss when twin siblings are torn apart by a fierce storm, while her company Kneehigh will revive their acclaimed show Tristan & Yseult on the Globe stage from 13 June as part of a major Celtic tour. A tale of forbidden desires, the play explores the love and betrayal between Tristan, King Mark of Cornwall and his wife Yseult, and has toured extensively over the past three years across the UK and America.
Globe Associate Director Matthew Dunster’s fresh interpretation of Much Ado About Nothing, playing from 14 July, will transport the love stories of Hero and Claudio, and Beatrice and Benedick, to 1910 Mexico at the outbreak of civil war. This is followed by former Shared Experience Artistic Director Nancy Meckler’s telling of King Lear, a story of the pride, jealousy and tragedy which ensues when Lear decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, from 10 August.
Finally, Shakespeare’s Globe will host a world premiere in the form of Tristan Bernays’ new play Boudica, directed by Eleanor Rhode, from 8 September. The infamous Queen of the Iceni tribe embarks on an epic quest of power, politics and love as she wages a bloody uprising against the Roman Empire.
Public booking for shows in the 2017 summer season will open on Monday 30 January 2017 at 10am. More information is available at the theatre’s website.