Mendes & Hare Lead Stage Big Hitters to BBC???

The BBC seems very serious indeed about its recently announced Shakespeare season. They’ve got Sam Mendes, and his company Neal Street Productions, on board to executive produce screen versions of four of the bard’s plays – Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V. And Mendes has in turn enlisted the likes of Rupert Goold and former National Theatre artistic director Richard Eyre to direct and leading Shakespearean actor Simon Russell Beale to be an associate producer. Sounds like that’s off to a good start. Meanwhile, playwright David Hare – whose most recent stage credits include The Power of Yes, Gethsemane, Stuff Happens and The Permanent Way – has been commissioned to write and direct a new one-off drama.