Kenneth Branagh to direct Tom Hiddleston in Hamlet for RADA
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage
Kenneth Branagh is to direct Tom Hiddleston in a new production of Hamlet in order to raise funds for RADA's new capital project.
The show will run for three weeks from 1 to 23 September this year at the drama school's 160-seat Jerwood Vanburgh Theatre.
Branagh's company is staging the show in order to support the transformation of RADA's Chenies Street site. Tickets will be available via a ballot, which opens at midday today and runs until 6 August at 6pm. Head to www.radahamlet.com to enter the ballot.
The new premises will provide accomodation for students and the regeneration will also include a new library and enhanced archive. It will also convert the Drill Hall into a flexible 250 seat public theatre – to be named Richard Attenborough Theatre.
The rest of the acting and creative team are made up of actors from the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company and RADA. They include Ayesha Antoine (Rosencrantz / Bernarda), Lolita Chakrabarti (Queen Gertrude), Nicholas Farrell (King Claudius), Sean Foley (Polonius / Osric), Tom Hiddleston (Hamlet), Ansu Kabia (King Hamlet / Player King / Gravedigger), Caroline Martin (Horatia), Eleanor de Rohan (Guildastern / Marcella / Priest), Irfan Shamji (Laertes / Player Queen) and Kathryn Wilder (Ophelia). Hamlet will be designed by James Cotterill with lighting design by Paul Pyant (both RADA graduates) and sound design by Paul Arditti and Christopher Reid. Lucy Bevan and Emily Brockmann are casting directors for the production.
Tickets will also be available by phone from midday on 1 August until 5pm on 5 August. Successful applicants will be notified by or on 8 August and will then have 48 hours to book their tickets between 9 and 10 August. The ballot is selected at random. Tickets are limited to a maximum of two per person across all performances. Twenty per cent of tickets will be priced at £15 and will only be available to audiences aged 25 and under. A further twenty per cent will be priced at £45, with the remaining tickets at £95.
Hiddleston said: "Hamlet presents almost limitless possibilities for interpretation. I can’t wait to explore them, with this great cast, at RADA. Kenneth Branagh and I have long talked about working on the play together, and now felt like the right time, at the right place."
