Shakespeare’s Globe has announced the all-female cast for Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s new play Emilia, directed by Nicole Charles.
The play charts the life of Emilia Bassano, the poet, mother and feminist who is thought to have inspired the ‘Dark Lady’ in Shakespeare’s sonnets, as well as the Emilia characters who appear in Othello, The Two Noble Kinsmen, The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy Of Errors.
Emilia continues to thread her way through each of the plays in which she appears this summer season, excepting Emilia the Abbess in The Comedy of Errors.
Leah Harvey (The Shakespeare Trilogy, Donmar) will play one of a number of eponymous roles as Emilia 1. Vinette Robinson (The A-Word, BBC) will play Emilia 2, and Clare Perkins (Genesis Inc, Hampstead) plays Emilia 3. Charity Wakefield (Wolf Hall, Doctor Who; BBC) will play William Shakespeare.
The cast also comprises Nadia Albina (Lady Katherine), Anna Andresen (Mary Sidney), Shiloh Coke (Lady Anne Clifford), Jenni Matiland (Countess of Kent), Carolyn Pickles (Lord Henry Carey), Sophie Russell (The Prudes, Royal Court), Sarah Seggari (Lady Cordelia), Sophie Stone (Lady Margaret Clifford), and Amanda Wilkin (Alphonso Lanier).
Emilia plays at Shakespeare’s Globe from 10 August. Tickets can be booked via the venue’s website.