REGENT’S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE ANNOUNCES
FULL CAST FOR
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre today announce the full cast for William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in a new production directed by Atri Banerjee. The production runs from 20 June – 18 July.
Banerjee directs Issam Al Ghussain (Flute); Rachel Barnes (Moth); Georgia Bruce (Puck); Misia Butler (Lysander); Neil D’Souza (Snug & Egeus); Amelia Gabriel (Mustardseed); Harriet Gordon-Anderson (Quince); Rori Hawthorn (Cobweb); Olivier Huband (Oberon & Theseus); Nadeem Islam (Bottom); Damien James (Peaseblossom); Terique Jarrett (Demetrius); Evie Jones (Snout); Mary Malone (Helena); Hiftu Quasem (Hermia); Jenny Rainsford (Titania & Hippolyta) and Dumile Sibanda (Starveling).
Atri Banerjee, Director, said: ‘I’m so pleased to be directing Shakespeare’s beloved comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. There is no play better suited to the Park’s surroundings, and it feels like a special privilege to be making this version for 2026: the responsibility to audiences feels immense and thrilling. “This green plot shall be our stage”, says Quince, and I can’t wait to work with this extraordinary group of actors and creatives to make art, make music, and collectively dream this summer.’
Drew McOnie, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre Artistic Director, said: ‘I’m delighted to welcome this wonderful cast of actors and actor musicians to Regent’s Park to bring this much loved Shakespeare back to the Open Air Theatre stage. I can’t wait for our audiences to be transported from Athens to the fairy kingdom once again in this visionary production from Atri Banerjee.’
A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
By William Shakespeare
Creatives include Atri Banerjee (Director); Rachel Barnes (Musical Director); Naomi Dawson (Set Designer); Yarit Dor (Intimacy & Fight Director); Amara Heyland (Associate Director); Anjali Mehra (Movement Director); Maimuna Memon (Composer & Musical Arrangements); Tomás Palmer (Costume Designer); Max Pappenheim (Sound Designer); Joshua Pharo (Lighting Designer); Jacob Sparrow (Casting Director); Emma Woodvine (Voice & Text Director).
Saturday 20 June – Saturday 18 July 2026
‘Are you sure
That we are awake? It seems to me
That yet we sleep, we dream.’
When a bitter dispute erupts in the fairy kingdom, four fleeing lovers and an unsuspecting weaver called Bottom find themselves adrift in an enchanted forest, down a path of chaos and delusion conjured by the mischievous Puck.
With desire turned upside down, hearts are won, lost, and won again in a realm of dreams where worlds intertwine and the impossible becomes a distant memory.
In a blissful new production directed by Atri Banerjee (The Glass Menagerie, Royal Exchange; Julius Caesar, RSC), underscored with folk-infused melodies composed by Maimuna Memon (Portia Coughlan, Almeida; The Grapes of Wrath, National Theatre), experience Shakespeare’s most spellbinding comedy as it blossoms once again in our magical outdoor setting.
Atri Banerjee | Director
Training: University of Cambridge (BA in English, MPhil in Medieval & Renaissance Literature); Birkbeck, University of London (MFA in Theatre Directing); National Theatre Directors’ Course.
As Director: Julius Caesar (RSC); Look Back in Anger (Almeida); The Glass Menagerie (Royal Exchange/Rose, Kingston/UK Tour); SHED: EXPLODED VIEW, Hobson’s Choice (Royal Exchange); Britannicus (Lyric Hammersmith); Kes (Octagon, Bolton/Theatre by the Lake); HARM (Bush); Scenes from the Climate Era (Gate, Offie Award for Best Production 2025); Dracula (National Youth Theatre); Into the Woods (Bristol Old Vic Theatre School); Europe (LAMDA).
Film includes: HARM (Bush/BBC/Angelica Films); This Room, Now (Gate).
Play translations include: Antigone Power, Carbon, All Saints.
Atri is Artistic Lead at the Gate Theatre. He won The Stage Debut Award for Best Director and was nominated for the UK Theatre Award for Best Director in 2019 for Hobson’s Choice (Royal Exchange), and was awarded a 2022-24 Peter Hall Bursary from the National Theatre. Atri sits on the Boards of the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury and the Regional Theatre Young Directors’ Scheme and was formerly Trainee Director at the Royal Exchange and a Resident Director at the Almeida.
Issam Al Ghussain | Flute
Training: Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Theatre includes: Cutting the Tightrope, Gentlemen (Arcola Theatre); Word Play (Royal Court Theatre); King Lear, Macbeth (The Globe Theatre).
Rachel Barnes | Moth
Training: Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Theatre includes: Manic Street Creature, Coven (Kiln); Grapes of Wrath (National Theatre); Manic Street Creature, Sugar Coat (Southwark Playhouse); Wicker Husband (Watermill); Joan of Leeds (New Diorama); Canary And The Crow (Arcola); I Hate Alone (Middle Child Tour); The Sicilian Courtesan (Richard Burton Theatre Company); Kasimir and Karoline (Gate Theatre); The Dancing Bear (Leeds Playhouse).
TV includes: Ladhood (BBC).
Georgia Bruce | Puck
For Regent’s Park: Fiddler on the Roof (2024).
Theatre includes: Fiddler on the Roof (Barbican/UK & Ireland Tour); Cowbois (RSC/Royal Court Theatre); The Invincibles (Hornchurch); Wuthering Heights (Wise Children, USA Tour); Fisherman’s Friends: the musical (Hall for Cornwall); Robin Hood (Watermill Theatre); Callisto: a queer epic (Arcola Theatre).
TV includes: It’s a Sin (Channel 4); Doctors (BBC).
Misia Butler | Lysander
Theatre includes: The Amber Trap (Theatre503); Jess And Joe Forever (Stephen Joseph Theatre); The Winslow Boy (UK Tour).
TV includes: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder – Season 2 (BBC3); Kaos (Netflix/Sister Pictures); The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself (Netflix/Imaginarium Productions); Kiss Me First (Netflix).
Film includes: Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day (WestEnd Films); The School for Good and Evil (Netflix).
Neil D’Souza | Snug & Egeus
Training: University of Ulster (BA in Theatre Studies and Philosophy), Royal Academy of Dramatic art.
Theatre includes: Indian Ink, Out of Season, Drawing The Line (Hampstead Theatre); Mahabharata (Barbican Theatre/Tour); The Cherry Orchard (The Yard Theatre); Coming Up (Watford Palace); Beginners (Unicorn Theatre); The Village (Theatre Royal Stratford East); How To Hold Your Breath, Khandan (Royal Court); Much Ado About Nothing, Midnight’s Children, The Hypocrite (Royal Shakespeare Company); Tintin (Watford Palace/West End); The Man Of Mode (National Theatre); Twelfth Night (West End); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Colchester, Mercury); The Merchant Of Venice, The Honest Whore (Shakespeare’s Globe).
TV & Film includes:Slow Horses (AppleTV); The Ballad Of Renegade Nell (Disney); In The Long Run (Sky/Starz); Alma’s Not Normal, Austin, Eastenders, Doctors, Hustle, Citizen Khan, Undercover, Holby City, Don’t Take My Baby, Happiness, Back Up (BBC); Not Safe For Work, Friday Night Dinner, Home, Humans (Channel 4); The Bill (ITV); Amerikan Kannibal (Discovery); Filth, Still Life, Closed Circuit, Wild Target, Another Me, My Sweet Home, Gate To Heaven.
As Writer: Out of Season (Hampstead); Coming Up (Watford Palace); Small Miracle (Tricycle Theatre); Five Beats To The Bar (Radio 4); Westway (BBC World Service).
Amelia Gabriel | Mustardseed
Training: Royal Academy of Music, University of Oxford.
Theatre includes: Little Women (Salisbury Playhouse/UK Tour); The Grapes of Wrath (National Theatre); The Lord of the Rings (Watermill Theatre); The Littlest Yak (LAStheatre); The Elmer Adventure (Soho Theatre/UK Tour); The Marriage of Kim K (Arcola Theatre); Under the Frozen Moon (Hertford Theatre).
Harriet Gordon-Anderson | Quince
Training: Western Australian Academy for the Performing Arts.
UK Theatre includes: Scenes From The Climate Era (Gate Theatre); Picnic at Hanging Rock (Barbican/Royal Lyceum Edinburgh).
Australian Theatre Includes: Ulster American (Ensemble Theatre/Outhouse Theatre); Scenes From The Climate Era (Belvoir St Theatre); Hamlet (2022), Hamlet (2020), In A Nutshell, The Miser (Bell Shakespeare); Anatomy of a Suicide (Sugary Rum); Boxing Day BBQ (Ensemble Theatre); Museum of Modern Love (Seymour Theatre); Shandy’s Corner (New Ghost Theatre); You Got Older (Mad March Hare); Kindertransport (Darlinghurst Theatre); Leaves (Kings Cross Theatre); Picnic at Hanging Rock (Malthouse Theatre/Black Swan Theatre).
TV & Film includes: Home and Away (Seven Network); Amazing Grace (Nine Network); Mikki Versus The World (ABC); Mr InBetween (FOX); Love Child (Playmaker); The Secret Daughter (Screentime); The Greenhouse (Netflix).
Rori Hawthorn | Cobweb
Training: Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Theatre includes:A Gig For Ghosts (Soho Theatre); Macbeth (Stafford Shakespeare Theatre); The Straw Chair (Finborough Theatre); Sunset Song (Edinburgh Lyceum); Cèilidh (NYC).
TV includes: Payback (ITV); Guilt (BBC); Red Election (Disney+); Game of Thrones (HBO).
Film includes: Creation Stories (Danny Boyle/Irvine Welsh).
Rori is an established Voice-Over Artist and was shortlisted for the Alpine Fellowship Music Award for Best Composition.
Olivier Huband | Oberon & Theseus
Training: Drama Centre.
Theatre includes: A Doll’s House, Romans: A Novel (Almeida); Much Ado About Nothing (RSC); Our Country’s Good (Lyric Hammersmith); Humour in the Water Coolant (ICA); The Duchess of Malfi (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse); The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe); Henry V (Donmar Warehouse); Barefoot in the Park (Pitlochry Festival Theatre/Royal Lyceum Edinburgh)
Film includes: The Way of the Runner (Potluck Pictures); MI:6 (Bad Robot).
TV includes: Moonflower Murders (BBC); This England (Revolution Films); Becoming Elizabeth (The Forge/Starz); A Discovery of Witches Series 3, I Hate Suzie (Bad Wolf for Sky); Informer (Neal Street Productions).
Nadeem Islam | Bottom
For Regent’s Park: Antigone (2022).
Theatre includes: Antony & Cleopatra (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Father and the Assassin (National Theatre); Treasure Island (Derby Theatre); Oliver Twist (Ramps on the Moon).
Damien James | Peaseblossom
Training: Rose Bruford College, Actor Musicianship
Theatre includes: Teeth ’N’ Smiles (Duke of York’s); Aladdin: The Rock ’N’ Roll Panto (Leeds City Varieties); Sappho: The Poetess (The Other Palace); The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Ambassadors Theatre/Southwark Playhouse); Fun at the Beach Romp-bomp-a-lomp!! (Southwark Playhouse); Luna Loves Library Day The Musical (UK Tour); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith); Ordinary People (Hazlitt Theatre); Red Riding Hood: The Rock ’N’ Roll Panto (Liverpool Everyman); Othello, Camelot (The Watermill); The Play That Goes Wrong (Duchess Theatre/UK Tour); Romeo and Juliet (Stockwell Playhouse).
TV includes: Casualty, Doctors (BBC).
Terique Jarrett | Demetrius
For Regent’s Park: Our Town (2019).
Theatre includes: Choir Boys (Theatre Royal Stratford East/Bristol Old Vic); Juniper Blood (Donmar Warehouse); Fangirls (Lyric Hammersmith); “Daddy”: A Melodrama (Almeida Theatre); The Mirror and the Light (West End); The Winter’s Tale (National Theatre); Motown the Musical (West End).
TV & Film includes: Moon Knight (Disney+); Find Me in Paris (Hulu/Disney+); Layla (Film 4).
Terique was awarded the Black British Theatre Award for Best Male Lead in a Play for his role in Choir Boys, and was nominated for the Evening Standard’s Emerging Talent Award 2022 for his role in “Daddy”: A Melodrama.
Evie Jones | Snout
Training: Rose Bruford College MA, University of York BA .
Theatre includes: Hospital Doors (Next Door But One); Solstice (Battersea Arts Centre); Waldo’s Circus of Magic and Terror (Extraordinary Bodies); Insane Animals (HOME MCR).
Film includes: Truckload – writer & performer.
Evie was awarded Best of Fest at the North East International Festival, and the Best Actress and Audience Award at the City Lights Festival for Truckload. It premiered at Tribeca Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, and screened at multiple UK and European festivals.
Mary Malone | Helena
Training: East 15 Acting School.
Theatre includes: Fangirls (Lyric Hammersmith/Sonia Friedman Productions); Burnt At The Stake (Shakespeare’s Globe); Hope Has A Happy Meal (The Royal Court); As You Like It (Soho Place); The Prince (Southwark); Gulliver’s Travels (Unicorn).
TV includes:Missing You (Netflix/Quay Street Productions); Doctor Who (BBC); Vera (ITV); Chivalry (Baby Cow Productions); The Girlfriend Experience (STARZ); Play in a Day (Sky Arts).
Radio includes: Hell Cats 2, Radio Elusia, The Venice Conundrum.
Mary has been awarded the BroadwayWorld UK Award for Best Supporting Performer in a New Production of a Play for The Prince, and was the winning graduate for Play in a Day.
Hiftu Quasem | Hermia
TV includes: Ten Percent (Amazon Prime); The Witcher, Hostage (Netflix); Killing Eve, This Is Going to Hurt (BBC); Lockerbie: A Search for the Truth (Sky); Criminal Record (AppleTV+); A Woman of Substance (Channel4).
Film includes: Something in the Water (StudioCanal); Sebastian (BFI/Creative Scotland); Keep Her Quiet (Schubert Films).
Theatre includes: Same Team – A Street Soccer Story (Traverse Theatre); Miss Julie (Perth Theatre/Tron Theatre/Festival Theatre); At Home I Speak (Rich Mix); Fission (Actors Centre).
Jenny Rainsford | Titania & Hippolyta
Training: Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Oxford University.
Theatre includes:Blithe Spirit (Salisbury Playhouse/Blackpool Grand); Ivy Tiller: Vicar’s Daughter, Squirrel Killer; The Tempest; Love For Love; Queen Anne (RSC); The Windors Endgame (Prince of Wales); Daddy (Almeida); Double Dealer (Orange Tree); The Rivals (Arcola); Microcosm (Soho Theatre); The Little Black Book (Park Theatre); No Quarter (Royal Court); The Seagull (Headlong); Straight (Sheffield/Bush Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (Rose Theatre).
As Co-Writer: Nanny (BBC Radio 4); Nanny – Director (Bristol Old Vic).
Film includes: Runaway (Supernova Productions Ltd); Such a Lovely Day (Element Pictures); Persuasion (Netflix); Coffee Wars (Unclaimed Freight Productions); The Favourite (BOP Films); About Time (Working Title); Prometheus (20th Century Fox).
TV includes: Late in Life (BBC Pilot); The Game (Channel 5); Silent Witness, Showtrial (BBC); Call The Midwife (BBC1); Finding Joy (RTE); Fleabag – Series 1 & 2 (BBC 3); Law & Order (ITV); The Smoke (Sky 1); Da Vinci’s Demons (Starz).
Credits whilst training: Oh What A Lovely War, Splendour, The Crucible, Othello, The Maid’s Tragedy, Love For Love, Calico, Electra, Henry V, Mr Norris Changes Trains, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Red Coat, Outbreak (Short Film).
Jenny was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award in 2015 for her role in Love For Love (RSC).
Dumile Sibanda | Starveling
Training: Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
For Regent’s Park: Robin Hood: The Legend. Re-Written (2023).
Theatre includes: A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong (Apollo Theatre/UK Tour); The Play That Goes Wrong (West End); Jack and the Beanstalk (Oxford Playhouse); Birds and Bees (Theatre Centre UK Tour); A Pigment Of Your Imagination (The Pleasance); Rock/Paper/Scissors (Sheffield Theatres).
BOX OFFICE INFORMATION
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Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4NU
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#OAT2026
2026 SEASON AT A GLANCE
A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production
SHERLOCK HOLMES
Saturday 2 May – Saturday 6 June 2026
Access Performances:
BSL Interpreted: Thurs 4 June, 7.45pm
Captioned: Fri 5 June, 7.45pm
Audio Described: Sat 6 June, 2pm
Age Recommendation: 12+
Tickets from: £15
OPEN AIR THEATRE SUNDAY EVENT: FAMILY DAY
Sunday 24 May 2026
Age recommendation: All ages welcome
Day Entry Tickets: Adults £18, Children £15
OPEN AIR THEATRE SUNDAY EVENT: JAMES ACASTER
Sunday 31 May 2026
Age recommendation: 14+
Tickets: £30
A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production
A LIFE IN FOUR SEASONS
Thursday 11 – Sunday 14 June 2026
Age Recommendation: 8+
Tickets from: £15
A Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
Saturday 20 June – Saturday 18 July 2026
Access Performances:
BSL Interpreted: Sat 11 July, 12.30pm & Thurs 16 July, 7.45pm
Captioned: Fri 17 July, 7.45pm
Audio Described: Sat 18 July, 12.30pm
Age Recommendation: 10+
Tickets from: £15
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
with Michael Harrison for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals presents
CATS
Saturday 25 July – Saturday 19 September 2026
Access Performances:
Relaxed: Thurs 27 August, 2pm
BSL Interpreted: Tue 1 September, 7.45pm
Captioned: Fri 4 September, 7.45pm
Audio Described: Sat 5 September, 2pm
Age Recommendation: 5+
Tickets from: £15
A Unicorn Theatre and Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production
ANANSI THE SPIDER
Saturday 15 August – Sunday 6 September 2026
Age recommendation: 4+
Tickets from: £15
OPEN AIR THEATRE SUNDAY EVENT: TIM KEY: LOGANBERRY
Sunday 6 September 2026
Age recommendation: 14+
Tickets: £30
OPEN AIR THEATRE LIVE MUSIC WEEK: ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
Tuesday 22 September 2026, 7pm
Tickets: £55 – 65
BEYOND THE PARK
Roald Dahl Story Company present
The family musical based on Roald Dahl’s
THE ENORMOUS CROCODILE
UK Tour Until 26 July 2026
Lyric Hammersmith, London 28 July – 22 August 2026
Originally produced by Roald Dahl Story Company, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and Leeds Playhouse
David Ian for Crossroads Live and Work Light Productions present
The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
Solaire Theatre, Manila 2 – 24 May 2026
National Theatre, Taipei 18 – 21 June 2026
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore 17 August – 13 September 2026
The Civic, Aukland 21 October – 15 November 2026
St James Theatre, Wellington 18 – 28 November 2026
Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch 2 – 6 December 2026
Further tour dates to be added.
Michael Harrison for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals presents
The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
London Palladium 20 June – 5 September 2026
london.jesuschristsuperstar.com
Trafalgar Theatre Productions, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and Brian & Dayna Lee presents
The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Theatre Royal Sydney 31 July – 6 September 2026
QPAC Glasshouse Theatre, Brisbane 9 – 25 October 2026
Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne 31 October – 27 December 2026
Further dates and venues to be announced.
Michael Harrison for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals presents
The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of
CATS
Theatre Royal Plymouth 6 – 17 October 2026
Hull New Theatre 20 – 24 October 2026
Birmingham Hippodrome 27 October – 7 November 2026
Palace Theatre Manchester 10 – 21 November 2026
Bristol Hippodrome 24 – 28 November 2026
Venue Cymru Llandudno 1 – 5 December 2026
Theatre Royal Glasgow 8 – 27 December 2026
Nottingham, Royal Concert Hall 6 – 16 January 2027
Canterbury, Marlowe Theatre 19 – 23 January
Sunderland, Empire Theatre 26 – 30 January 2027
Aberdeen, His Majesty‘s Theatre 9 – 13 February 2027
Theatre Royal Norwich 16 – 27 February 2027
Grand Opera House Belfast 2 – 13 March 2027
Oxford, New Theatre 23 – 27 March 2027
Mayflower Southampton 30 March – 10 April 2027
Edinburgh, Playhouse Theatre 20 – 24 April 2027
Bradford, Alhambra Theatre 27 April – 1 May 2027
Liverpool, Empire Theatre 5 – 15 May 2027
Woking, New Victoria Theatre 18 – 22 May 2027
Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff 25 – 29 May 2027
Milton Keynes, Milton Keynes Theatre 1 – 5 June 2027
Newcastle, Theatre Royal 8 – 19 June 2027