FULL CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR THE RSC’S THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
The Merry Wives of Windsor
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Blanche McIntyre
In repertoire Wednesday 5 June – Saturday 7 September 2024
Press Night: Wednesday 12 June, 7pm
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Box Office: rsc.org.uk 01789 331111
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Full casting is announced for the RSC’s forthcoming production of Shakespeare’s suburban comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Directed by Blanche McIntyre, the show runs in repertoire in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon between 5 June – 7 September.
Making their RSC debuts as the eponymous ‘Merry Wives’ are the previously announced double Olivier Award-winner Samantha Spiro (Sex Education/ Ridley Road) as Mistress Meg Page, who is joined by Siubhan Harrison (The Ocean at the End of the Lane) as Mistress Alice Ford. John Hodgkinson (Dear England, RSC’s A Christmas Carol) plays Sir John Falstaff, and Richard Goulding (Scoop, The Windsors, King Charles III) plays Frank Ford.
Blanche McIntyre, director, said: “The Merry Wives of Windsor is one of Shakespeare's most underrated plays. Its mixture of comedy and vulnerability foreshadows great writers such as Alan Ayckbourn, and its farcical set pieces are the forerunners of classic sitcom. I'm setting the play in a contemporary small town, as I think its gossipy lack of privacy, its suburban values and its overheated town politics are timeless. I've wanted to direct The Merry Wives of Windsor for a long time, and I am delighted to be working on it with the sensational company we've assembled."
Samantha Spiro’s TV and film credits include One Life, Hoard, Still Up, Sex Education, Ridley Road, Ragdoll, Semi-Detached, Babs, Tracey Ullman’s Show, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Plebs, London Spy, Grandpa’s House, Psychobitches and Me Before You.
A recipient of two Olivier Awards and a Whatsonstage.com award, her theatre credits include: Guys and Dolls; Lady Windermere's Fan; Di, Viv and Rose; and A Christmas Carol (West End); Macbeth and The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe); Chicken Soup with Barley (Royal Court, nominated for Best Actress at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and Whatsonstage.com Awards); Hello Dolly! (Regents Park Open Air Theatre, winner of the Best Actress in a Musical at the Olivier Awards); Merrily We Roll Along (Donmar Warehouse, winner of Best Actress in a Musical at the Olivier Awards and Whatsonstage.com Awards), Two Thousand Years and Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick at the Royal National Theatre; and The House They Grew Up In and Funny Girl at Chichester.
Siubhan Harrison’s theatre credits include: Wildfire Road (Sheffield Crucible); The Ocean at the End of the Lane (National Theatre Productions at the Duke of York’s Theatre); Wonderful Town (Opera Holland Park); Home I’m Darling (Duke of York’s Theatre for National Theatre Productions); Me and My Girl (Chichester); The Country Wife, Working (Southwark Playhouse); I Call My Brothers (Arcola); Guys and Dolls (Savoy); Pitcairn (Globe); From Here to Eternity (Shaftesbury Theatre); Earthquakes in London (UK tour); Margueritte (Haymarket); Marianne Dreams (Almeida); and Les Miserables (Queens). TV and film credits include: The Great Escaper, Fifteen Love, The Song of Lunch and Little Deaths.
John Hodgkinson was most recently seen in Dear England (National Theatre/Prince Edward Theatre). His previous work for the RSC includes: Venice Preserved, The Provoked Wife, Twelfth Night, A Christmas Carol, Love's Labour's Lost and Much Ado About Nothing. Other theatre credits include: Best of Enemies (Young Vic Theatre/Noel Coward Theatre); Hangmen (Royal Court/ Wyndham's/Golden Theatre New York); The Ferryman (Royal Court/Gielgud); The Libertine (Glasgow Citizens); and A Walk On Part (Live Theatre/Soho Theatre/Arts Theatre). Television and film credits include: Life After Life, Small Axe, Catherine The Great, Rillington Place, Victoria, Witless, Todd Margaret, The Escape Artist, Whitechapel, Big Bad World, Criminal Justice, Peep Show, Heart of Lightness, Skyfall, Leave to Remain, Thunderpants and Firelight.
Richard Goulding’s previous RSC credits include: The Seagull, King Lear, A Mad World My Masters, Titus Andronicus and Candide. Other theatre credits include: Scandaltown (Lyric Hammersmith); A Passage to India (Simple 8/Royal and Derngate); St George and the Dragon, Edgar and Annabel, There Is A War (National Theatre); King Lear, They Drink It In The Congo (Almeida Theatre); King Charles III (Almeida Theatre, Wyndham’s Theatre and Music Box Theatre, New York, nominated for Olivier and Tony award for Best Supporting Actor); and Posh (Royal Court/Duke of York’s). His TV and film credits include: The Windsors, Grantchester, Dalgliesh, A Very British Scandal, The Crown, Belgravia, Traitors, Brexit: The Uncivil War, King Charles III, Fresh Meat, Ripper Street, Foyle’s War, Scoop, Wicked Little Letters, Benediction, The Iron Lady and King Lear.
The full cast comprises Jessica Alade (Simple), Omar Bynon (Pistol), John Dougall (Shallow), Riess Fennell (Robert/Student), Richard Goulding (Frank Ford), Siubhan Harrison (Alice Ford), John Hodgkinson (Sir John Falstaff), Emily Houghton (Host of the Garter), Ian Hughes (Sir Hugh Evans), Wil Johnson (George Page), Yasemin Junqueira (Student), John Leader (Fenton), David Mara (Rugby), Tadeo Martinez (Robin), Shazia Nicholls (Mistress Quickly) Yasemin Özdemir (Nym), David Partridge (Bardolph/John), Samantha Spiro (Meg Page), Jason Thorpe (Dr Caius), Tara Tijani (Anne Page) and Patrick Walshe McBride (Slender). Full actor and creative bios can be seen here.
Blanche McIntyre’s previous RSC directing credits include All’s Well That Ends Well (2022), Titus Andronicus (2017) and The Two Noble Kinsmen (2016). Other credits include Arabian Nights (Bristol Old Vic), Super High Resolution (Soho Theatre), House of Shades (Almeida) and Measure for Measure (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse).
Joining Blanche on the creative team are Robert Innes Hopkins (Set and Costume Designer), Malcolm Rippeth (Lighting Designer), Tim Sutton (Composer), Emma Laxton (Sound Designer), Ingrid Mackinnon (Movement Director), Philip d’Orleans (Fight Director) and Matthew Dewsbury CDG (Casting Director).
The Merry Wives of Windsor (5 June - 7 September) plays in repertoire with The School for Scandal (2 July – 6 September), with some of the cast appearing in both shows. Casting for The School for Scandal will be announced shortly.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Dean Asker, Senior Media Relations Officer, RSC dean.asker@rsc.org.uk
0778 9937759
LISTINGS INFORMATION
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
In repertoire Wednesday 5 June – Saturday 7 September 2024
Press Night: Wednesday 12 June, 7pm
Curtains are twitching and tongues are wagging in this fresh new production of Shakespeare’s suburban comedy.
Lies! Jealousy! Dirty laundry! The Merry Wives of Windsor is an uproarious tale of mischief and double dealing where the women get the last laugh. What goes on at Number 22 is absolutely everybody’s business.
Audio Described performance: Saturday 22 June, 1.15pm
Chilled and Handheld Captioned performance: Thursday 18 July, 1.15pm
Signed and Chilled performance: Saturday 7 September, 1.15pm
Audio Described performance: Friday 30 August, 7.15pm
Captioned performance: Friday 21 June, 7.15pm, Saturday 3 August, 1.15pm
Performance with Integrated BSL Interpreter: Wednesday 4 September, 7.15pm
Director Talk: Tuesday 11 June, 5.15-6pm
Post Show Talk: Wednesday 4 September
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
ICBC is the Headline Sponsor of The Merry Wives of Windsor
RSC £10 Tickets for 14-25s supported 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 agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. We invest public money from Government and The National Lottery to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk.
Following the Covid-19 crisis, the Arts Council developed a £160 million Emergency Response Package, with nearly 90% coming from the National Lottery, for organisations and individuals needing support. We are also one of the bodies responsible for administering the Government’s unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund, of which we delivered over £1 billion to the sector in grants and loans. Find out more at www.artscouncil.org.uk/covid19.
About ICBC (London)
Established in 2003 in the City of London, ICBC (London) plc has provided professional solutions to various clients’ needs. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited London Branch was authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority in 2014, and together with its 100% wholly-owned subsidiary, ICBC (London) plc (collectively referred to as the “Bank”), provides a range of regulated financial products and banking services to its UK, Chinese and international clients, including corporate customers, individual customers and financial institutions. The Bank has specialized teams focusing on Commercial Real Estate, Commodities and Structured Finance, Global Loan Syndications, Trade Finance, Project and Infrastructure Finance and Treasury solutions by way of offering hedging solutions for currency and interest rate exposure via Foreign Exchange products and Interest Rate Derivatives.
‘Integrity Leads to Prosperity’ is the core value behind ICBC’s long-term development, including: acting with integrity; embracing cultural diversity; caring for clients, staff and the local community.
To learn more about ICBC, please visit our website www.icbclondon.com
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