Samantha Spiro, Sean Campion and Joseph Mydell are among the performers who will be spending the summer months in the leafy surroundings of the Regent’s Park Open Air theatre.
Spiro and Campion will lead the cast of Much Ado About Nothing as battling lovers Beatrice and Benedick when the al fresco season begins on 25 May. Mydell is to lead the cast of Liam Steel’s family adaptation of The Tempest, which runs in June, while Spiro will once again return to the Regent’s Park stage in late summer in the title role of Hello, Dolly!. Casting for the fourth production of the Open Air season, The Importance Of Being Earnest, is still unknown.
Spiro’s last London appearance came in another of Shakespeare’s comedies, Twelfth Night, in which she starred opposite Derek Jacobi in 2008. The actress, who won a Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in the Donmar Warehouse production of Merrily We Roll Along in 2001, has previously appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Lady Be Good and Macbeth at the Open Air theatre, while her other London credits include Cleo Camping Emmanuelle And Dick, Two Thousand Years (both National Theatre) and the Family Plays (Royal Court).
Campion recently appeared in Berlin Hanover Express at the Hampstead theatre. The Irish actor has a wealth of experience which ranges from appearances in Holby City and Eastenders to Phaedra at the Donmar Warehouse and Stones In His Pockets in the West End, a performance which won saw him receive a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor. He lost out to co-star Conleth Hill.
Spiro and Campion are joined in Much Ado About Nothing by Peter Bramhill, Silas Carson, Eke Chukwu, Nigel Cooke, Simon Gregor, Tim Howar, Sarah Ingram, Chris Jared, Ben Mansfield, Mark McGee, Harry Myers, Anthony O’Donnell, Anneika Rose, Annalisa Rossi, Tim Steed, Kate Tydman, and David Whitworth. Full casting for Hello, Dolly! is yet to be announced.
Mydell is an apt choice to lead the cast of The Tempest. The American actor is an old hand when it comes to performing the Bard’s work as he has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company on productions including Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, Breakfast With Mugabe, As You Like It, Everyman and The Mysteries. He won the Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in the National Theatre production of Angels In America and has appeared across London, the West End and Broadway. Mydell is joined in The Tempest by Michael Camp, Matt Costain, Akiya Henry, John O’Mahoney, William Oxborrow, and Tom Silburn.
The summer season at the Regent’s Park Open Air theatre runs from 25 May-12 September. The show goes on at the exposed venue come rain or shine, with very few occasions when performances are cancelled due to inclement conditions.
Speaking about the venue Timothy Sheader, the theatre’s Artistic Director, said: “The wonderful unpredictability of being in the heart of one of the city’s most loved parks is what makes each visit to the Open Air theatre a truly unique and thrilling experience. We encourage audiences to arrive early and enjoy the theatre’s enchanting setting and to stay late in the longest and most spacious bar of any London theatre!”
MA