FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM AT THE RSC
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Tuesday 30 January – Saturday 30 March 2024
Press night: Tuesday 13 February 2024, 7pm
Directed by Eleanor Rhode
Box Office: rsc.org.uk, 01789 331111
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The Royal Shakespeare Company has today announced casting for its forthcoming production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon between Tuesday 30 January and Saturday 30 March 2024.
Eleanor Rhode, who was last at the RSC as the director of King John in 2019, returns to direct one of Shakespeare’s most captivating comedies in a Dream that is epic, intimate, and completely full of wonder.
Joining the previously announced Mathew Baynton as Bottom are Nicholas Armfield as Demetrius, Emily Cundick as Snout, Bally Gill as Oberon/Theseus, Esme Hough as Cobweb, Ryan Hutton as Lysander, Charlotte Jaconelli as Peaseblossom, Laurie Jamieson as Snug, Neil McCaul as Egeus, Helen Monks as Peter Quince, Michael Olatunji as Moth, Adrian Richards as Philostrate, Boadicea Ricketts as Helena, Sirine Saba as Titania/Hippolyta, Rosie Sheehy as Puck, Dawn Sievewright as Hermia, Mitesh Soni as Flute, Premi Tamang as Starveling and Tom Xander as Mustardseed.
Ian Charleson winner, Bally Gill returns to the RSC for the first time since playing Romeo in Erica Whyman’s 2018 production, Romeo and Juliet. Rosie Sheehy, recently in the RSC’s All’s Well That Ends Well and Richard III, is reunited with director Eleanor Rhode having last worked with her on King John (2019). Sirine Saba also joins the cast, having performed in Michael Boyd’s RSC production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2000.
The full creative team joining Eleanor Rhode is also announced today. A Midsummer Night’s Dream will feature Design by Lucy Osborne, Illusion Direction and Design by John Bulleid, Lighting by Matt Daw, Music by Will Gregory, Sound by Pete Malkin, Movement by Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster, Video by Nina Dunn, Fights & Intimacy by Rachel Bown-Williams & Ruth Cooper-Brown and Casting by Matthew Dewsbury CDG.
On Midsummer’s Night, the real and fairy worlds collide.
Four young lovers, faced with the prospect of unhappy marriage or worse, flee the court of Athens and stumble into an enchanted forest. Nearby, a group of amateur actors rehearse a play to celebrate an upcoming royal wedding.
As these mere mortals cross paths with a warring fairy King and Queen, chaos reigns in the natural world. The lines between reality and illusion start to blur and no-one but mischievous Puck knows what is true and what is magic.
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For further press information, please contact: Armani Ur-Rub, Senior Publicist, RSC: armani.ur-rub@rsc.org.uk
LISTING INFORMATION
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
30 January – 30 March 2024
Captioned: Friday 23 February, 7.15pm
Audio Described: Friday 01 March, 7.15pm (Touch Tour, 5pm)
Audio Described, Captioned and Chilled: Saturday 09 March, 1.15pm (Touch Tour, 11am)
Handheld Captioned: Thursday 21 March, 7.15pm and Saturday 30 March, 1.15pm.
Chilled: Thursday 28 March, 1.15pm
This production includes Creative Audio Description by Benjamin Wilson (Creative Audio Description Consultant). Audiences can access audio description and an additional soundscape through headsets, which is performed live and in character by the cast, at every performance from press night.
POST SHOW TALKS
Director Talk: Monday 12 February, 5.15pm
Unwrapped: Saturday 23 March, 10.15am
Post Show Stay Late: Wednesday 27 March
FOR FULL SCHEDULE DETAILS VISIT RSC.ORG.UK
NOTES TO EDITORS
The RSC is supported using public funding by Arts Council England
The work of the RSC is supported by the Culture Recovery Fund
The RSC is generously supported by RSC America
TikTok £10 Tickets sponsored by TikTok
The RSC Acting Companies are generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)
The Royal Shakespeare Company creates exceptional theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, London and around the world, performing plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as commissioning a wide range of original work from contemporary writers. Our purpose is to ensure that Shakespeare – and theatre as a whole – is for everyone, and we do that by unlocking the power of his plays and live performance, and with our learning and education work throughout the UK and across the world.
Arts Council England is the national development body for arts and culture across England, working to enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to visual art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.www.artscouncil.org.uk
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