Gossip

Could the Globe be prepping Rylance’s return for a West End outing?

| London's West End |

6 February 2012

When Shakespeare’s Globe announced its former artistic director Mark Rylance would return to the Bankside venue as Olivia in Twelfth Night and take the title role in Richard III later this year, the eagle-eyed spotted an interesting producing partner was also mentioned above the title, Sonia Friedman Productions.

The presence of Sonia Friedman, producer of Much Ado About Nothing starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, The Misanthrope with Keira Knightley and Rylance’s most recent West End outing Jerusalem among myriad other London and New York credits, on the producing roster did cause speculation that the productions would surface on Broadway.

The Daily Mail‘s Baz Bamigboye reported back in June 2011 that “the hope” was to have the entire company transfer alongside Rylance to New York, where the he won the 2011 Tony Award for Best Actor for his outing in Jerusalem.

Whatsonstage.com has now learnt that the productions could be planning a transfer more locally, making their way across the Thames to a West End theatre, potentially opening as early as autumn 2012.

Tim Carroll helms both of the productions at the Globe, with Richard III currently booking at Shakespeare’s Globe from 14 July to 13 October, joined in rep by Twelfth Night from 22 September to 14 October 2012.

Rylance, it was announced late last week, will be joined in the company by Jerusalem co-star Johnny Flynn (playing Viola in Twelfth Night and Lady Anne in Richard III) and Samuel Barnett (playing Elizabeth and Sebastian).