Dominic Dromgoole announces final season at The Globe

The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse will host Shakespeare productions for the first time, as part of Dominic Dromgoole's final season as artistic director of The Globe.

Opening the season of candlelit Shakespeares on 19 November 2015 is Pericles, joined by Cymbeline from 2 December, The Winter’s Tale from 28 January and The Tempest, Dromgoole's final production, from 17 February.

According to The Globe: "These four plays, written by Shakespeare to exploit the potential of the Blackfriars, the indoor playhouse his company made their winter home in 1609, share a host of thematic links and a delight in using the technical and imaginative possibilities of the indoor theatres."

Pericles, which was at least part written by Shakespeare, tells of a young prince who escapes assassination after discovering incest at the heart of the Kingdom of Antioch.

Cymbeline charts the virtuous Imogen, daughter of the British king Cymbeline, journeying from England to Wales disguised as a boy, in search of her lowborn and exiled husband, Posthumus.

The Winter's Tale, which is soon to be revived in the West End with Kenneth Branagh and Judi Dench, tells of how King Leontes loses his wife and newborn daughter through his furious yet baseless jealousy.

And The Tempest takes place on a deserted island populated by the spirits and witches, as well as the banished duke Prospero and his effervescent daughter Miranda.

Casting for the season is still to be announced.

Also announced today is that Ellen Terry with Eileen Atkins, which premiered at the venue last year, will return in January and February 2016.

Emma Rice takes over as artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe in April 2016.