Shakespeare’s Globe is delighted to announce the cast and company for King Lear opening 10 June – 24 July.
Twenty-five years after their original, ground-breaking production of King Lear, members of the original company will reunite bringing the production to a new generation, including internationally lauded director Helena Kaut-Howson, Marcello Magni, Pawel Dobrzycki, and ‘one of the greatest stage actors alive’ (Vanity Fair) Kathryn Hunter.
‘The oldest hath borne most: we that are young
Shall never see so much, nor live so long’
– Act V, scene 3
Helena Kaut-Howson has previously directed Faithful Ruslan – The Story of a Guard Dog (Belgrade Theatre/Citizens Theatre) and The Lower Depths (Arcola Theatre). Kathryn Hunter was the first British woman to play King Lear professionally and returns to the Globe after playing Richard III in 2003. Most recently, Kathryn appeared as the witches in the 2021 film The Tragedy of Macbeth directed by Joel Coen and The Chairs (Almeida) alongside Marcello Magni and Toby Sedgwick. Kathryn reclaims the title role, with Marcello playing Kent and the Globe’s Artistic Director Michelle Terry playing Cordelia and Fool.
King Lear is designed by Pawel Dobrzycki, with Naeem Hayat as the Assistant Director, Claire Van Kampen as Composer, and Clive Mendus as Movement Director.
The Cast:
Gabriel Akuwudike will play Burgundy. Gabriel’s previous theatre credits include: Either (Hampstead Theatre), Time is Love (Finborough Theatre), Dealing with Clair (Orange Tree Theatre), A Gym Thing (Small Things Theatre), No One is an Island (Tangle). Screen credits include: Hana series 3 (NBC Universal / Amazon), Ridley Road (Red Productions), War of the Worlds series 2 (Urban Myth Films), Cursed (Netflix), Game of Thrones (HBO), Brexit: The Uncivil War (House Productions / Channel 4), The Beautiful Game (Netflix) and 1917 (Neal Street / Amblin).
Ryan Donaldson will play Edmund. Ryan’s previous theatre credits include: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (Harold Pinter / UK Tour), King of The Castle (Druid Theatre Company), Misterman (Orange Tree Theatre), The Winter’s Tale (Cheek by Jowl), Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme (Headlong), Shakespeare In Love (Walt Disney / Sonia Friedman Productions). Screen credits include: North Sea Connection (RTE), and The Huntsman (Huntsman Productions Ltd).
Emma Ernest will play France. Emma trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and made her professional debut at Shakespeare’s Globe in the 2021 Globe on Tour productions of As You Like It, The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Theatre credits while training include: Into the Woods, Romeo and Juliet, Linda, and Cathy (RADA).
Kathryn Hunter will play King Lear. Kathryn’s previous work for Shakespeare’s Globe includes Richard III, The Taming of the Shrew (2003) and she directed Pericles (2005) and The Comedy of Errors (1999). Other theatre credits include: The Chairs, Whistling Psyche, Doña Rosita (Almeida), Happy Days, Far Away (Bouffes du Nord), Timon Of Athens, Antony & Cleopatra and King Lear (RSC), The House of Bernarda Alba (Manchester Royal Exchange), The Emperor, Kafka’s Monkey (Young Vic, HOME Manchester and TFANA, New York), Cyrano De Bergerac (Southwark Playhouse), Live Like Pigs, The Recruiting Officer, Our Country’s Good (Royal Court), The Hypochondriac (Lyric Hammersmith), and The Skriker, The Visit (National Theatre) – for which she won an Olivier Award for Best Actress. Screen credits include: The Tragedy of Macbeth (Apple TV+), Pilrgim (Star Wars Series), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Warner Bros. Pictures), Les Misérables (Lookout Point / BBC), Flowers (Kudos / Channel 4), Rome (HBO), Black Earth Rising, NCS: Manhunt, Silent Witness and Grushko (BBC).
Mark Jax will play Cornwall. Mark’s previous theatre credits include: A Christmas Carol (Young Vic), Strange Kind of Animal, Pravda (National Theatre), Keith, Richard III, The Lower Depths, Sons Without Fathers (Arcola Theatre), Pressure (Park Theatre / Ambassadors Theatre ), A Soldier in Every Son, King John, Richard III (RSC), Rough Crossings (RSC / Headlong Theatre), Mirror For Princes (RSC / Barbican), Jamaica Inn, The Norman Conquests (RSC / Salisbury Playhouse), Romeo and Juliet, Mansfield Park (RSC / Crucible), Two Planks & A Passion Northcott Exeter, When We Are Married (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Way Of the World, Macbeth, Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Romeo and Juliet, and Women Beware Women (Birmingham Repertory Theatre). Screen Credits include: Ryan (Amazon Prime), The Vice IV (Amazon Prime), Marco Polo (Netflix), Frankenstein (Silverstar Limited), The Prime Minister (Warner Brothers), and Living Doll (Spectacular Films).
Max Keeble will play Oswald. Max’s previous theatre credits include Faithful Ruslan: The Story of a Guard Dog (Belgrade Theatre Coventry / Citizens Theatre Glasgow), Maurice (Above the Stage Theatre), I Run (Cut the Cord / Pleasance Theatre), and An Enemy of the People (Here Now Ensemble / Playground Theatre). Screen credits include: Strangers (ITV), Topboy (Netflix), The Women by the Lake (Tom Shkolnik).
Marcello Magni will play Kent. Marcello’s previous work at Shakespeare’s Globe includes Pericles (2005), Merchant of Venice (1998), and Comedy of Errors (1999). Other theatre credits include: The Chairs (Almeida), Happy Days, The Tempest, WHY, The Valley of Astonishment, Fragments and The Magic Flute (Bouffes du Nord), Heart-Cards (Tour / Ex Machina Company), Red Demon (Young Vic Theatre / Noda Map Japan), The Birds (National Theatre), Tell Them That I am Young and Beautiful (Arcola Theatre), A Minute Too Late, Help I’m Alive, The Visit, The Winter’s Tale, Street of Crocodiles and A Dog’s Heart (Theatre de Complicite) and his solo show Arlecchino (originally created at BAC London). Screen credits include: Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour, The Tudors, The Virgin Queen (BBC). Mr. Turner (Thin Man Films), Nine (Nine Films Lts), and The Adventures of Pinocchio (Allied Pinocchio Production). Marcello is the voice of Pingu (Hit Entertainment).
Diego Matamoros will play Gloucester. Diego’s previous theatre credits include: Queen Goneril, Art, Idomeneus, Cage, The Aleph, As You Like It, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Travesties, A Raisin in the Sun, The Caretaker, King Lear, The Government Inspector, The Wild Duck, Translations, Phedre, Uncle Vanya, and Don Carlos (Soulpepper Theatre), Julius Caesar (Crow’s Theatre), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Birdland Theatre), Half Life (Tarragon Theatre), Love’s Labour’s Lost, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stratford Festival ON), Cage (Signature Theater NYC), Barber of Seville (Court Theatre, Chicago), Spinoza (Off Broadway), and Amadeus (Cincinnati Playhouse). Screen credits include: Murdoch Mysteries (Shaftesbury / CBC), Kim’s Convenience, H20, The Sleep Room, More Sears (CBC), Fugitive Pieces (Serendipity), Survivor (Paramount TV), I’ll Be Home for Christmas (Fox TV), and Bone Daddy (Grosso Prods.).
Kwaku Mills will play Edgar. Kwaku’s previous theatre credits include: Queer Upstairs (Royal Court Theatre), Perspective (National Theatre), Candida (Orange Tree Theatre), Dark Sublime (Trafalgar Studios), Good Dog (Watford Palace Theatre and UK Tour) and The End of Eddy (Unicorn Theatre and UK). Screen credits include: I Hate You (Channel 4), The Other One (BBC), and Urban Myths: The Trial of Joan Collins (Sky Arts) and The Trouble with Jessica (Parkland Pictures).
Ann Ogbomo will play Goneril. Ann’s has previously worked at Shakespeare’s Globe on Shakespeare at the Abbey (2019). Other theatre credits include: Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, The Histories, and Henry IV Part 1 (RSC), 15 Heroines (Jermyn Street Theatre), Schoolplay (Antic Face), Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (National Theatre), Henry IV (Donmar), and The Jungle Book (West Yorkshire Playhouse). Screen credits include: The Rising (Sky Studios), The Sandman (Netflix), Krypton (Warner TV & Syfy), Casualty, The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, (BBC), Julius Caesar (Illuminations), Blessed (ITV), Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Justice League, Wonder Woman (Warner Bros.), The Last Letter from Your Lover (The Film Farm / Blueprint Pictures / Studio Canal), World War Z (Paramount), and Wild Target (Magic Light).
Marianne Oldham will play Regan. Marianne’s previous theatre credits include: hang (Crucible Theatre), A Monster Calls (Bristol Old Vic), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (The Old Vic), The Argument (Hampstead Theatre), The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Chichester Festival Theatre), Sons without Fathers, Uncle Vanya (Arcola Theatre / The Belgrade Theatre), You can still make a Killing (Southwark Playhouse), The Real Thing, The Changeling (ETT), Hamlet (The Factory), Design for Living, Persuasion (Salisbury Playhouse), The Years Between (The Royal & Derngate). Screen credits include: The Midwich Cuckoos (Sky), Endeavour, Foyle’s War (ITV), A Very English Scandal, The Living and the Dead, The Musketeers, The Crimson Field, Doctors, The Impressionists, WPC56 (BBC), Obsession (October Films), Finding Your Feet (StudioCanal), Absolutely Anything (Bill and Ben Productions), Silent Girl (Ascension Productions), and Titus (Dakus Films).
Glyn Pritchard will play Albany. Glyn’s previous theatre credits include The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Blodeuwedd, Yn Debig Iawn I Ti A Fi (Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru), Kneebone Cadillac (Plymouth Theatre Royal), One Green Bottle (Tokyo Metropolitan & Soho Theatre London), Ophelia’s Zimmer, The Twits (The Royal Court), The Bee (Tokyo Metropolitan/Tour), The Dark Philosophers (National Theatre Wales), The Black Album, Ghetto, Fuente Ovejuna, Bartholomew Fair (National Theatre), The Diver (Soho), Under Milk Wood, Blue Remembered Hills, A Christmas Carol (Dukes, Lancaster), King Lear (Young Vic), Othello (RSC), The Marriage of Figaro (Royal Exchange, Manchester), and A Family Affair (Arcola). Screen credits include Enid & Lucy (Boom), White House Farm (ITV), Doctors, Inspector George Gently, Harriet’s Army, Casualty, (BBC), Anita Series 1 and 2 (Boom Cymru), Critical (Sky TV), Law & Order (Kudos), Babylon (Channel 4), Hinterland (Fiction Factory), Stella (Tidy Productions), Pobol Y Cwm (BBC Cymru), Famous Five (Zenith North), Hunky Dory (Hunky Dory Productions), Weekenders (Momentum Pictures), Butterflies (Samsa Films), Lion (See-Saw Films), The Last Minute (Venom Productions Limited), Death of a Son (BBC Films).
Michelle Terry will play Cordelia and Fool. Michelle is the Artistic Director for Shakespeare’s Globe and has performed in Twelfth Night (2021), The Taming of the Shrew (2020), Henry IV Part 1 (2019), Macbeth, and As You Like It (2018), As You Like It (2015), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2013), and Love’s Labour’s Lost (2007). Other theatre credits include: Love’s Labour’s Lost, Much Ado About Nothing, The Winter’s Tale, Pericles, The Crucible (RSC), Henry V (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Privacy, The Man Who Had All The Luck (The Donmar), Cleansed, 50 Years of The National Theatre, The Comedy of Errors, London Assurance, All’s Well That Ends Well, England People Very Nice (National Theatre), Before the Party (Almeida), In the Republic of Happiness, Tribes (The Royal Court), Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (Arcola Theatre), War on Terror, Two Cigarettes, 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover (Bush Theatre). Screen credits include: Marcella Series 2 (ITV), The Café Series 1 and 2 (Writer and Performer: SKY) and Extras (BBC/HBO).
King Lear was cast by Becky Paris, Head of Casting at Shakespeare’s Globe
The Company:
Assistant Director – Naeem Hayat
Composer – Claire Van Kampen
Costume Supervisor – Hattie Barsby
Designer – Pawel Dobrzycki
Director – Helena Kaut-Howson
Fight Associate – Joseph Reed
Fight Director – Rodney Cottier
Globe Associate: Movement – Glynn MacDonald
Globe Associate: Text – Giles Block
Globe Associate: Voice – Tess Dignan
Movement Director – Clive Mendus
KING LEAR by William Shakespeare
10 June – 24 July
Press Night: Friday 17 June, 7:30pm
#KingLear
Globe Theatre
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