Theatre News

Cast: Spiro is Globe Shrew, Flynn & Barnett support Rylance

Two time Olivier Award-winner Samantha Spiro will star as Katherina in the Globe’s forthcoming production of The Taming of the Shrew, which opens on 23 June.

Spiro, whose recent credits Company at Sheffield Theatres and Hello, Dolly! at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park (for which she won her second Olivier), will begin rehearsals immediately after finishing in Filumena at the Almeida.

The Taming of the Shrew, which runs in rep until 13 October, is directed by Toby Frow, whose recent credits include Dr Faustus and Edward II at the Manchester Royal Exchange.

It’s preceded in the Globe’s The Play’s the Thing season by artistic director Dominic Dromgoole‘s production of Henry V (7 June to 26 August) starring Jamie Parker in the title role. Prior to its run at the Globe, the production will embark on a six-venue national tour, taking in Liverpool, Cardiff, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath and Salisbury.

As previously announced, the season also sees a return to the Globe for former artistic director Mark Rylance, who will play the title role in Richard III and Olivia in Twelfth Night, both of which are directed by Tim Carroll.

Rylance will be joined in the ensemble by his Jerusalem co-star Johnny Flynn, who’ll play Viola in Twelfth Night and Lady Anne in Richard III, and Samuel Barnett, who plays Elizabeth and Sebastian.

Flynn played Lee in Jerusalem and has also been a regular member of Edward Hall’s Propeller theatre company, acting in several productions including Twelfth Night. Other theatre credits include Richard Bean’s The Heretic (Royal Court).

Barnett, who makes his Globe debut, created the role of Posner in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, while other credits include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Chichester/Haymarket Theatres), Women Beware Women and His Dark Materials (NT).