Spooks Star Raison Plays Boleyn Twice at Globe
Miranda Raison, best known for her role as Jo Portman in BBC drama Spooks, will play Anne Boleyn in two productions in rep at Shakespeare’s Globe this summer.
Henry VIII, which runs in rep until 21 August, will also star Dominic Rowan (The Misanthrope) as the legendary Tudor King and Anthony Howell, well-known as Detective Milner in ITV’s Foyle’s War, as Buckingham.
Directed by Mark Rosenblatt, it marks the first time the reconstructed Globe has staged the play. It was during a production of Henry VIII in 1613 that a theatrical cannon misfired and caused the original venue to burn down.
Howard Brenton‘s Anne Boleyn, which also finishes on 21 August, dramatises the life and legacy of Henry VIII’s notorious second wife. Brenton portrays a very different Anne, as both a sexually ambitious woman and a religious reformer taking on the vicious world of Tudor politics. The play will re-unite Brenton with director John Dove following their partnership on In Extremis at the Globe in 2006 and 2007.
Miranda Raison, who creates the title role, has theatre credits including The Rivals at Salisbury Playhouse and The Man Who Came to Dinner at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Other television credits include Married Single Other, Holby City, Doctor Who, Heartbeat and Perfect Strangers.
Other productions in the Globe’s new Kings and Rogues season include Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
