[Latecomer]

Details in the Daily Mail this morning. They will have to go a long way to beat the As You Like It at The Globe....and I like how they are not doing Hamlet as there have been rather a lot of them recently....like we haven't just had 2 AYLIs this season! And a Tempest by the RSC!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...l-Rosalind.html

[Alexandra]

Oh my. Duff, Dillane and Rylance. What a cast. Can't wait to see these.

[Jan Brock]

It is interesting when a director chooses to direct a Shakespeare play twice - Sam Mendes has directed "Tempest" before with Alec McCowen - one wonders why with so many alternatives to choose from they return to a piece they already know well.

Trevor Nunn famously directed two entirely different productions of Macbeth almost consecutively: the first with Nicol Williamson which was entirely unsuccessful, and next with Ian McKellen which wasn't. Nunn has also directed Hamlet twice, but separated by 34 years, and has directed King Lear three times. Adrian Noble directed the Winters Tale twice, once in a small-scale production and once on the main stage. Peter Hall has directed a few plays twice: Love's Labours Lost, Twelfth Night, Coriolanus, Hamlet.

[Trev]

It is interesting when a director chooses to direct a Shakespeare play twice - Sam Mendes has directed "Tempest" before with Alec McCowen - one wonders why with so many alternatives to choose from they return to a piece they already know well.

Trevor Nunn famously directed two entirely different productions of Macbeth almost consecutively: the first with Nicol Williamson which was entirely unsuccessful, and next with Ian McKellen which wasn't. Nunn has also directed Hamlet twice, but separated by 34 years, and has directed King Lear three times. Adrian Noble directed the Winters Tale twice, once in a small-scale production and once on the main stage. Peter Hall has directed a few plays twice: Love's Labours Lost, Twelfth Night, Coriolanus, Hamlet.

The current Bridge "Cherry Orchard" is also Mendes second attempt.

[Weez]

Three As You Like Its if you include Leicester. Which I am, 'cos I'm just like that.

Well, not the most startling - or exciting? - of choices, but I'll see 'em anyway. At least they're plays I enjoy, when done well. :3

[art87]

Hmm. So what happened to Three Sisters. I do like As You Like It and The Tempest, but it would be nice to have a slightly more varied set of plays - if it's going to be all Shakespeare then a comedy and a tragedy would be better in my opinion. Anyway, Anne Marie Duff will make a fab Rosalind I'm sure although I agree that the Globe production was awesome and this is going to have to work very hard to beat the magic they created there. Never seen a brilliant Tempest though, so I'm waiting to be won over with that one - just hope Sam brings out a little more of the comedy than he did with The Winter's Tale.

Also, I have to say I think that the casting is a bit less starry than this year's. Not that I'm complaining (I'd rather they could act than they are well known!), but of the core quartet, only Anne Marie could be called "famous" in the UK, and not to the same level as Ethan Hawke or Rebecca Hall.

[BenMonk]

Hmm. So what happened to Three Sisters.

I'm guessing that the production at the Haymarket is happening then-

http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=2...=E8831242034763

[TheatreMadGoer]

Sam Mendes has directed "Tempest" before with Alec McCowen -

Personally it will have to go some distance to beat that production, my first Tempest and the one which still sends shivers down my spine 16 years later (scary to think it was 1993).

Simon Russell Beale made an extraordinary Ariel, David Bradleys ventreliquist Trinculo, oh I could go on for hours.

[Lynette]

Personally it will have to go some distance to beat that production, my first Tempest and the one which still sends shivers down my spine 16 years later (scary to think it was 1993).

Simon Russell Beale made an extraordinary Ariel, David Bradleys ventreliquist Trinculo, oh I could go on for hours.

Yeah, I saw that one - SRB unforgettable Ariel.