Author: FairyPoweredProductions

EXTRA DATES ADDED TO

BIGGEST EVER ‘LET IT BE’ TOUR

CAST ANNOUNCED –– OPENS NEXT WEEK – JANUARY TO JULY 2016 – 26 VENUES

_____________________________________________________________

Audiences round the country are gearing up to Twist and Shout when the biggest ever tour of The Beatles’ celebration show LET IT BE starts next week (Tuesday, 12 January) – and a further five venues have been added to the tour before the curtain even goes up. The show comes to theGrand Opera House York on Monday 4^th April and runs until Saturday 9 April 2016.

The national UK tour will visit 26 theatres across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales betweenJanuary and July 2016 – entertaining theatregoers with a show spanning the iconic eras of the band’s illustrious career.

Opening with six performances at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend on 12 January 2016, the tour continues throughout the Spring and Summer months with the final date currently confirmed as23 July at the Theatre Royal in Brighton.

The mega tour will take in Southend; Southampton; Bromley; Bath; Torquay; Truro; Sheffield; Manchester; Wimbledon; Dublin; Woking; Blackpool; York; Swansea; Edinburgh; Birmingham; Aylesbury; Darlington; Canterbury; Bristol and Oxford.

Dates have now been added for Eastbourne; Dartford; Nottingham; Leeds and Brighton. Further venues are expected to be announced.

The start of the new tour coincides with the 53^rd anniversary of The Beatles’ second single, Please Please Me – which was released on 11 January 1963. Over half a century later, The Beatles have never been so popular with a real resurgence in the band’s popularity and new fans discovering their music.

LET IT BE audiences can look forward to a show lasting more than two hours bursting with timeless hits, showstopping sets, dazzling costumes and a brilliant performance which fans will never forget. The show also continues to attract theatregoers and fans of live music, alongside the most dedicated Beatles’ enthusiasts.

LET IT BE will take to the road thanks to Annerin Productions and Flying Entertainment.

A cast of talented musicians will take to stages across the country as the Fab Four, wowing audiences with their effortless and indistinguishable portrayal as John, Paul, George and Ringo. The performers have already toured the show to some of the biggest stages in the world including Broadway.

The cast have been confirmed as Paul Canning and Reuven Gershon (John Lennon); Emanuele Angeletti and Iain Hornal (Paul McCartney); John Brosnan and Paul Mannion (George Harrison);Luke Roberts (Ringo Starr). The band will be joined on stage throughout the tour by Michael Bramwell on keyboards.

Derek Nicol, joint Managing Director of Flying Entertainment, commented: “The time has come to take LET IT BE on the road for its biggest ever tour – it’s an incredibly exciting time for the show and we’re delighted to add another five venues to the tour before it’s even started.

“We have an extremely talented cast who have performed the show to audiences on New York’s Broadway, in London’s West End, and toured across Europe and Japan. The show’s most recent run was in Liverpool, where they certainly know their stuff when it comes to The Beatles. They truly welcomed LET IT BE into their hearts, the response was fantastic and we knew it was time to share the show with the rest of the country through a 26-venue tour spanning seven months.

“The show will have audiences on their feet from the very start. They won’t be able to help themselves thanks to the iconic songbook from the world’s biggest band. We’re also looking forward to entertaining the next generation of Beatles’ fans.”

LET IT BE celebrates the music of the world’s most successful rock ‘n’ roll band in a spectacular concert charting the band’s meteoric rise from their humble beginnings in Liverpool’s Cavern Club, through the height of Beatlemania, to their later studio masterpieces. They were just four boys from Liverpool who went on to change the world.

The show celebrates music history’s greatest ever worldwide phenomenon and is packed with over 40 of The Beatles’ greatest hits, including Twist and Shout, She Loves You and Drive My Car, as well as global mega hits Yesterday, Hey Jude, Come Together and, of course, Let It Be. Travel back to the Swinging Sixties when all you needed was love, and a little help from your friends!

The show has already wowed London’s West End and New York’s Broadway audiences. It recently completed a five-week run in the birthplace of the biggest band in the world, Liverpool, where it enjoyed 5-star rave reviews and sell-out performances at Royal Court Theatre Liverpool.

The Liverpool run coincided with what would have been John Lennon’s 75^th Birthday, breaking box office records at Royal Court Theatre Liverpool as the venue’s fastest selling show.

Now seen by over 1 million people worldwide, LET IT BE continues to delight audiences across the globe, having recently performed to audiences in Germany, Japan, Moscow, and France.

LET IT BE has established itself as one of the West End’s most popular shows since originally opening at the Prince of Wales Theatre in September 2012, where it recouped its initial investment after just 18 weeks before transferring for a year-long run at the Savoy Theatre from January 2013 through to February 2014. Before moving to Royal Court Theatre Liverpool, the show completed an 8-month run at the Garrick Theatre in London’s West End.

Website:             www.LetItBeLive.com

Facebook:           Let It Be UK Tour

Twitter:                @LetItBeUKTour

FINAL CASTING FOR

2016 NATIONAL TOUR OF

JUSTIN AUDIBERT’S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION OF

TERENCE RATTIGAN’S EPIC WARTIME ROMANCE

FLARE PATH

Final casting has now been announced for the 2016 national tour of Terence Rattigan’s FLARE PATH, directed by Justin Audibert, opening on 27 January at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing. Daniel Fraser will play Teddy Graham and Audrey Palmer will play Mrs Oakes.  Daniel played Gregory Cromwell in the acclaimed RSC productions of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies in Stratford, London and on Broadway.  He also appeared in Chariots of Fire at Hampstead Theatre and in the West End and starred in the Sci-Fi films Frequencies and Lab Rats and the thriller Scar Tissue.

As previously announced, the cast will be led by Graham Seed as Squadron Leader Swanson, Lynden Edwards as Peter Kyle and Hedydd Dylan as Patricia Graham.

They will be joined by Claire Andreadis as Countess Skriczevinsky (Doris), Emma Carter as Betty,  Charlie G Hawkins (Darren Miller in EastEnders) as Percy, Jamie Hogarth as Sergeant Miller (Dusty), Polly Hughes as Mrs Miller (Maudie)  and William Reay as Flying Officer Count Skriczevinsky and Corporal Jones (Wiggy).

Graham Seed is perhaps best known for playing Nigel Pargetter in the BBC radio series The Archers for 27 years until his dramatic exit at the beginning of 2011. He is the recipient of the Broadcaster of the YearAwards 2010 from the Broadcasting Press Guild and the Voice of Listener & Viewer Special Award 2010. Graham’s recent work in theatre includes An Audience with Jimmy Savile opposite Alistair McGowan (London’s Park Theatre and Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015), The Mousetrap (National Tour), Yes Prime Minister (National Tour) and Toad of Toad Hall (West End).

Lynden Edwards’s West End credits include Mr Lindquist and Carl Magnus in Trevor Nunn’s Tony Award-winning production of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music (Garrick & Menier Theatres), Les Miserables (Palace Theatre) and The Mousetrap (St Martin’s Theatre).

Hedydd Dylan’s recent theatre credits include The Watchman/Cassandra/Cilissa/Athene in The Oresteia (HOME Theatre), Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jackie Oppenheimer inOppenheimer and Jane Damport in The Shoemaker’s Holiday (all for the Royal Shakespeare Company).

Based on Rattigan’s experiences as a tail gunner during World War II, FLARE PATH paints an evocative portrait of life in wartime Britain for the life-and-death existence of the RAF bomber crews, and their wives and sweethearts who were left waiting their return.                                                           

Set in 1942 against a backdrop of heartache and quiet bravery, FLARE PATH tells the story of former actress Patricia, the wife of RAF pilot Teddy, whose marriage is tested to the limits by the surprise arrival of Patricia’s ex‐lover and Hollywood idol Peter Kyle. An unexpected and dangerous mission over Germany puts Patricia at the centre of an emotional conflict as unpredictable as the war in the skies.

FLARE PATH combines highly charged drama with a truly authentic taste of the fear, camaraderie and passion experienced by the men and women who fought to save their country, their families and each other.

FLARE PATH will have Set and Costume Design by Hayley Grindle, Lighting Design by Alex Wardle and Sound Design by Dominic Bilkey.                                                                                           

FLARE PATH is produced on tour by Alastair Whatley for The Original Theatre Company and Anne-Marie Woodley and Jon Woodley for Birdsong Productions Ltd.

Official website: www.flarepaththetour.com

Twitter: @flarepathtour

Facebook: flarepaththetour

2016 TOUR SCHEDULE

27 – 30 January                         Connaught Theatre, Worthing                                     01903 206 206

                                                worthingtheatres.co.uk

2 – 6 February                           Oxford Playhouse                                            01865 305305

                                                www.oxfordplayhouse.com

10 – 13 February                        Buxton Opera House                                       01298 72190                                                                  www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk

15 – 20 February                        Theatre Royal Windsor                                    01753 853 888

  www.theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk

23 – 27 February                        The Grand Theatre, Blackpool                                    01253 290 190

                                                www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk

29 February – 5 March               Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds                      01284 769505

                                               www.theatreroyal.org

7 – 12 March                             Mercury Theatre, Colchester                           01206 573948

                                                www.mercurytheatre.co.uk

15 – 19 March                           Aberdeen His Majesty’s Theatre                       01224 641122

                                               www.aberdeenperformingarts.com                

22 – 26 March                           Theatr Clwyd, Mold                                         01352 701521

                                               www.theatrclwyd.com

29 March – 2 April                     Wycombe Swan                                              01494 512 000

                                               www.wycombeswan.co.uk

5 – 9 April                                 Orchard Theatre, Dartford                               01322 220000

                                               orchardtheatre.co.uk

12 – 16 April                              Darlington Civic Theatre                                 01325 486555

www.darlingtoncivic.co.uk                                                                      

19 – 23 April                              Derby Theatre                                                 01332 59 39 39

                                                www.derbytheatre.co.uk

25 – 30 April                              Birmingham Repertory Theatre                      0121 236 4455

                                                www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

3 – 7 May                                  York Theatre Royal                                         01904 623568

                                                yorktheatreroyal.co.uk

Presented by Theatre503, Tara Finney Productions and Wales Millennium Centre

Written by Chris Urch

Directed by Paul Robinson

An extra performance of critically-acclaimed play Land of Our Fathers, has been added at Live Theatre, Newcastle in January due to popular demand. A matinee performance has been added at 2pm on Thursday 28 February, as tickets for the other performances between Wednesday 27 and Saturday 30 January 2016 have almost sold out.

Starting it’s English tour at Live Theatre, after a successful tour in Wales last year Land of Our Fathers which follows six Welsh miners trapped underground, is a funny and deeply moving Welsh mining drama packed full of blistering comedy and echoes a generation of lost voices.

It’s May 1979 in South Wales. Thatcher is county her votes, Sid Vicious is spinning in his grave and six Welsh miners are trapped down a coal mine. As the men await their rescue, secrets emerge and accusations fly. Within two weeks, everything they believe in and everything they know will have changed.

Max Roberts, Artistic Director, Live Theatre said:

“We have been delighted at the popularity of Land of our Fathers and have added an additional performance so more audiences can see this powerful drama when it starts it’s English tour here at Live Theatre at the end of January. The story of miners in the play will have a strong resonance here in the North East with our shared mining heritage, and with Live Theatre’s audiences after our success with plays such as The Pitmen Painters and Close the Coalhouse Door.”

Land of Our Fathers has been described by The Guardian as ‘undeniably powerful’ and The Times as ‘a high voltage production’.

Paul Robinson, Artistic Director of Theatre503 and Director, Land of our Fathers said:

“The response so far has been thrilling and we’re delighted to be bringing the production to some fantastic venues in England in the New Year. The story is so universal with characters that you can’t help but fall; in love with, and we hope the play will continue to bring laughs and tears as it continues its journey.”

Tara Finney, Co-producer, Land of our Fathers said:

“I am delighted to be taking Land of Our Fathers on tour, enabling more people around the country to see this beautiful play. I have no doubt it will continue to enthral people as we move from the Welsh to English venues.”

Original cast members Joshua Price (Llwyth/Tribe) and Taylor Jay-Davies (Great Expectations – West End, The Passion) reprise their roles as Mostyn and Chewy. They are joined by John Cording (Pobol Y Cwm, Da Vinci’s Demons), Tomos Eames (Pride, Resistance), Cornelius Booth (Pride & Prejudice) and Robert Jezek (The Bodyguard – West End).

Two free events will accompany the shows at Live Theatre. Meet The Cast takes place after the show on Thursday 28 January, when the audience can discuss the making of the play with the creative team and cast.  A Post Show Discussion will take place on Saturday 30 January after the 2pm matinee, when Ian Lavery MP for Wansbeck and former President of the National Union of Mineworkers joins Max Roberts Artistic Director of Live Theatre to discuss issues raised in the play. Both events are free, but booking is essential.

For more information on Land of Our Fathers which is at Live Theatre between Wednesday 27 and Saturday 30 January 2016and to buy tickets costing between £22 to £12, over 60s concessions from £22 to £16 and other concessions £15 to £10 call Live Theatre’s box office on (0191) 232 1232 or see www.live.org.uk.

Listings:

Wednesday 27 to Saturday 30 January 2016

Land of Our Fathers

Presented by Theatre503, Tara Finney Productions and Wales Millennium Centre

Written by Chris Urch

Directed by Paul Robinson
3 May 1979, six Welsh miners are trapped underground as Thatcher is counting her votes.

Winner of Time Out Critics Choice & Fringe Show of the Year 2013

DATES: Wed 27 to Sat 30 Jan, 7.30pm
PERFORMANCES: Wed to Sat, 7.30pm
MATINEE: Sat 30 Jan, 2pm

LOCATION: Main Theatre
DURATION:  Approx. 2hr 20mins (including interval)
SUITABILITY: 14+, contains some swearing

TICKETS: £22-£12, over 60s conc. £22-£16 other concs. £15-£10
Meet the Cast

Thursday 28 January, after 7.30pm show
Meet the cast and creative team to discuss the making of the play.

DATE: Thurs 28 Jan,
LOCATION: Main Theatre
DURATION:  Approx. 40mins
SUITABILITY: 14+

TICKETS: Free, booking essential

 
Post Show Discussion

Saturday 30 January, after 2pm show

Ian Lavery MP for Wansbeck and former President of the National Union of Mineworkers joins Max Roberts, Live |Theatre’s Artistic Director to discuss the issues raised in the play.

DATE: Sat 30 Jan
LOCATION: Main Theatre
DURATION:  Approx. 40mins
SUITABILITY: 14+

TICKETS: Free, booking essential

Theatre N16 presents:

‘Make a Person Laugh Enough Times, You’re Loved Forever…’
I Loved Lucy is a personal portrait of an iconic comedic entertainer whose public face is all too well known. But what was Lucille Ball really like and how did she choose to live her life… at the end of her life? Out of the spotlight.

Based on his best selling memoir, Lee Tannen’s funny, bitter-sweet play, which gets its UK premiere in a four-week season at Jermyn Street Theatre, reveals the real-life Lucy and what is was like being her friend to the end. Most people who wrote about Lucy never even met her. They relied on others to fill in the blanks. Lee relied solely on Lucy. And he paints a rich personal portrait that can only add to our love of a legend.

I Loved Lucy stars Sandra Dickinson (A Streetcar Named Desire, Not about Nightingales, Orpheus Descending) as Lucy and Matthew Bunn (The Ladykillers) as Lee. It is directed by Jermyn Street Theatre’s Artistic Director Anthony Biggs (The River Line, On Approval, The First Man).

Awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Lucille Ball remains one of Hollywood’s best loved stars. With her trademark red hair and goofy persona, she will always be remembered as the crazy, accident-prone, lovable Lucy Ricardo on her groundbreaking 1950s TV sitcom, I Love Lucy, which co-starred her real-life husband Desi Arnaz and was produced by their own TV company, Desilu Productions. Shown around the world and topping the ratings every year in the US, it is still regarded today as one of the greatest and most influential sitcoms in TV history.

When the show ended, Lucy took sole control of Desilu Productions, making her the first woman to run a major TV production studio. She won four Emmys and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in recognition for her life’s work. On August 6, 2011, which would have been her 100th birthday, Google honored her with an interactive doodle on their homepage featuring classic moments from I Love Lucy.

Born in Washington DC, Sandra Dickinson first found fame in the UK as the star of Birds Eye beefburger ads in the early 1970s. They established her in a succession of American ‘dumb blonde’ roles, and it was many years before she was able to shake that image. She’s had a prolific career on stage and screen, notably as Trillian in the cult sci-fi TV series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. She is currently the voice of Grandma Tracy in CITV’s Thunderbirds Are Go.

Lee Tannen first met Lucille Ball as a child but cemented their close and enduring friendship as an adult. During the last 10 years of Lucy’s life – years mostly spent out of the spotlight and much of it around a backgammon table, where Lee became Lucy’s confidant spending time in her Beverly Hills and Palm Springs homes, traveling with her and entertaining her on his turf in New York City. His memoir became an instant best seller. In 2010, he adapted it for the stage where it premiered at The Laguna Playhouse. Lee’s other work includes a new libretto in 2007 for the stage adaptation of the classic children’s story Dr. Dolittle, starring and directed by nine-time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune. A year earlier, Lee was a contributing writer for the Drama-Desk-nominated musical The Audience. In 2003, Lee was writer and Associate Director for Paparazzi, an original musical for Holland America Line directed by Tommy Tune. In 2001, Lee wrote and directed All The World’s a Stage, a star-studded benefit for Variety Club at Carnegie Hall starring, among others, Barbara Cook, Nathan Lane and Tommy Tune and hosted by Jane Powell. Lee has also written special material for Joan Rivers, Elizabeth Taylor and Shirley MacLaine.

LISTINGS
I Loved Lucy
Tuesday 2nd – Saturday 27th February 2016
Press night is Friday 5th February at 7.30pm
Jermyn Street Theatre
16b Jermyn Street
LONDON, SW1Y 6ST
Tuesday to Saturday 7.30pm
Saturday & Sunday matinees 3.30pm
Additional matinee Thursday 25 February at 3.30pm
Tickets: £22.00 (£18.00 concs)
www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk

As rehearsals commence for the West End production of Motown the Musical, full casting is announced for the production led by Cedric Neal as Berry Gordy, Lucy St. Louis as Diana Ross, Charl Brown as Smokey Robinson and Sifiso Mazibuko as Marvin Gaye.

They are joined by Keisha Amponsa Banson as Mary Wells, Cindy Belliot as Anna Gordy, Samuel Edwards as Jackie Wilson, Tanya Nicole Edwards as Florence Ballard, Portia Harry as Teena Marie, Aisha Jawando as Martha Reeves, Joshua Liburd as Eddie Kendricks, Simeon Montague as Jermaine Jackson, Cleopatra Rey as Gladys Knight, Brandon Lee Sears as Tito Jackson, Jordan Shaw as Stevie Wonder, Cherelle Williams as Mary Wilson.

Eshan Gopal, 12 years old from Kingsbury, London, 13 year old Kwame Kandekore from Leicester and 11 year old Joshua Tikare from Bromley will alternate the role of Young Michael Jackson.

They are joined by swings and ensemble members Jay Bryce, Daniel Bailey, Edward Baruwa, Eddie Elliott, Christopher Fry, Alex Hammond, Edward Handoll, Simon Ray Harvey, Elias Hendricks, Brian James Leys, Jayde Nelson, Kieran McGinn, Simone Mistry Palmer, Carl Spencer and Marcel J Whyte.

London previews begin at the Shaftesbury Theatre on 11 February 2016, with press night on 8th March 2016 with the first booking period to 22nd October 2016.

With music and lyrics from the legendary Motown catalogue and book by Motown founder Berry Gordy, Motown the Musical is directed by Charles Randolph-Wright.

With just $800 borrowed from his family, Motown founder Berry Gordy, goes from featherweight boxer to heavyweight music mogul, discovering and launching the careers of Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and many more. Motown the Musical uncovers the true story of the legendary record label that changed music history and created the soundtrack of a generation.

Featuring a sixteen piece orchestra playing 50 Motown tracks including Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, I’ll Be There, Dancing In The Street, Stop! In The Name Of Love, My Girl and I Heard It through the Grapevine, Charles Randolph-Wright’s production tells the story behind the classic hits.

VAULT Festival returns to The Vaults on Leake St in Waterloo for another year of comedy, theatre and experimental work from emerging artists.

Highlights from the 2016 line-up include Squidboy, a new show from award-winning physical performer Trygve Wakenshaw about an imaginary friend who creates their own imaginary friends (27-30 Jan) and The Misfit Analysis, written and lead by Cian Binchy who is a consultant for the National’s Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Journeying through the mischievous mind of an autistic man, audiences will be taken through a world of wheelchairs and blow up dolls (2-6 March).

Making their VAULT Festival debut from 17-21 Feb will be award-wining company Clout Theatre with The Various Lives of Infinite Nullity, a piece of absurdism centered around a post-suicide support group held in the afterlife. The production will run alongside Dom Coyote & The Blood Moneys’ Songs for the End of the World which is billed as ‘part gig, part play, part apocalypse’ and features artists from Kneehigh and Little Bulb Theatre.

Other highlights around the festival include the previously announced one-man show from Jamie Muscato; Tar Baby, a Fringe First Award-winning solo show which looks at race in America (10-14 Feb), The Devil Speaks True, an immersive show offering an intimate perspective of a man returning home from war with PTSD (17-27 Feb) and a new film festival taking place each Sunday in February with long and short form screenings of drama, documentary, animation and more.

Taking place from 27 January to 6 March, expect pop-up bars, restaurants, club nights and performances. Since its inception in 2012, VAULT has hosted over 250 productions and the 2016 festival includes shows which explore themes including gender, mental health and conflict.

For the full VAULT Festival line-up, click here.

The Terence Rattigan Society have announced a new writing award with monetary prizes and a professional production of the winning play on offer.

The winner of Terence Rattigan Society Award – which honours Sir Terence Rattigan’s unique contribution to British drama and will be judged by David Suchet, Julian Fellowes, Thea Sharrock and Dan Rebellato – will receive £2,500 and a professional production of their play at the Sarah Thorne Theatre in Kent. The runner-up will received £1,000 and a guaranteed rehearsed reading.

Suchet, who will host the formal announcement of the award on 26 January at the Jermyn Street Theatre said: “I’m thrilled that the Terence Rattigan Society is offering an award for a new play in his name. As one of this country’s true masters of the dramatists’ craft, it is a fitting tribute to his enormous contribution to the theatre”.

Fellowes commented: “Terence Rattigan is one of England’s greatest playwrights whose light was hidden under a bushel for far too long before his recent rediscovery. An award in his name, dedicated to finding new talent and bringing it out of the darkness for the public to enjoy, seems only fitting.”

Shakespeare’s Globe has announced its 2016 Wonder Season, which will be Emma Rice’s inaugural season as artistic director.

Throughout the season, a magical forest designed by Lez Brotherston featuring silver birch tree trunks will span from the piazza onto London’s Bankside.

To coincide with the forest, the season will open in April with a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Rice.

Rice said today at the launch: “This is an amazing new adventure for me. I want to remind us of what it is like to tell a story… The Globe is the most accessible and inviting place in London and I want to continue that.”

Up next will be The Taming of the Shrew directed by Gate Theatre creative associate Caroline Byrne. Running from May to August the production, which Byrne will set in Ireland, tells of two sisters approaching marriage but both with different mindsets, one excited, one horrified.

“Taming of the Shrew taunts us,” said Rice. “How can we make this play for the 21st century? I told Byrne to be brave and it’s going to be very Irish.”

Acclaimed opera and theatre director Iqbal Khan then directs the Scottish classic Macbeth from June whilst Kneehigh show 946 The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, which was co-adapted by War Horse writer Michael Morpurgo with Rice, will run at the Globe between August and September. It is based on his novel about the preparation for the D-Day landings. The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk will also run in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from June. The Kneehigh and Bristol Old Vic production tells of a young couple navigating the Russian Revolution and each other.

Further ahead, the season will also see Olivier-nominated director Matthew Dunster direct Imogen(Sept to Oct), a renamed and ‘reclaimed’ version of Cymbeline. Jonathan Munby’s heralded version of The Merchant of Venice will return to the Globe in October, following a national and international tour, which kicks off at the Liverpool Playhouse in June. Multi-award winning actor Jonathan Pryce will reprise his role of Shylock.

In the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the theatre will host a touring production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona from September to October, directed by Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse associate director Nick Bagnall.

The Playhouse season will close with The Inn at Lydda, a play from John Wolfson who is Honorary Curator of Rare Books for the Globe. The play follows Tiberius Caesar and a meeting with Jesus Christ in Judea.

Rice also announced that there would be relaxed performances for every production and has reduced the number of plays in the season this year than in previous years.

Rice takes over from Dominic Dromgoole who has led the venue since 2006.