Shakespeare's Globe announces cast for three touring shows

Casting has been announced for Shakespeare's Globe's trilogy of plays that will embark on a UK tour this summer.

The three shows – A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It and The Tempest – will be performed at different venues across the country. As has been done in previous years, audiences will have the chance to vote for their favourite Shakespeare play out of the trio, with that one then being performed.

Directed by Brendan O'Hea, the cast of eight will be composed of Stephenson Ardern-Sodje (Hamilton), Tom Chapman (For All The Women Who Thought They Were Mad), Anna Crichlow (The Worst Witch), Mark Desebrock (Hamlet), Emma Ernest (making her professional debut), Sara Lessore (The Last of the Pelican Daughters), Katy Secombe (Les Misérables) and Deka Walmsley (Macbeth). Vanessa-Faye Stanley will act as associate director for the tour.

The productions open at the Globe in London on 27 April before visiting Surrey, Taunton, Hay-on-Wye, Sherwood Forest, Liverpool, Dorset, Guernsey, Brighton and Kent, with further venues to be revealed.