Shakespeare’s Globe announces 2024 summer season

Shakespeare’s Globe has unveiled its forthcoming summer season for 2024, featuring a number of revivals, returning creatives and a brand-new play.

The season opens on 25 April with associate artistic director Sean Holmes at the helm of Much Ado About Nothing, featuring Ekow Quartey and Amalia Vitale in the roles of Benedick and Beatrice.

Artistic director Michelle Terry will take centre stage as the titular character in Richard III, directed by Elle While and scheduled to run from 9 May.

After that, Jude Christian will make a main-stage Globe debut with The Taming of the Shrew, transforming the Globe into an absurd carnival from 6 June. Blanche McIntyre will then return to direct Antony and Cleopatra, with Nadia Nadarajah starring as Cleopatra in a bilingual production. Further cast includes William Grint and Nadeem Islam. Holmes’ well-received 2023 production, The Comedy of Errors, will make a comeback from 21 August before embarking on a tour.

Adding some new writing to the season, a world premiere play titled Princess Essex will run in the autumn, written by and featuring Anne Odeke in the lead role. The comedy, set in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in 1908, recounts the true story of Princess Dinubolu, the first woman of colour to enter a beauty pageant in the UK. Robin Belfield will direct the production, scheduled to run from 13 September.

For families, the award-nominated team behind Midsummer Mechanicals will present a new family show, Rough Magic, in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from 20 July. Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank’s  Romeo & Juliet, the next instalment in the flagship project for secondary schools, will be directed by Globe director of education Lucy Cuthbertson and makes its return on 19 March. This production, designed to support the curriculum, offers a 90-minute rendition set in the present day.

Discussing the new season at a pre-programme launch yesterday, Terry, Holmes and new chief executive Stella Kanu were happy to reflect on a successful 2023 season, which saw the venue confidently recover from the turbulence of Covid lockdowns. They highlighted that both artists and audiences alike were returning to the venue, keen to utilise its “defiantly theatrical” (in Holmes’ words) and unique appeal.