RSC ANNOUNCES NAOMI SHELDON TO JOIN THE COMEDY OF ERRORS ON TOUR AND AT THE BARBICAN 2021
ON TOUR 22 OCTOBER – 6 NOVEMBER
BARBICAN 16 NOV – 31 DECEMBER
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The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) today announced that Naomi Sheldon will join The Comedy of Errors company to play the role of Adrianna on tour and at the Barbican this winter. Hedydd Dylan, who currently plays the role of Adrianna, will share the role with Naomi whilst the production is on tour, before leaving the company at the end of November to have her baby, when Naomi will take over permanently for the show’s run at the Barbican.
The production, directed by Phillip Breen (The Provoked Wife, The Hypocrite), opened to critical acclaim at the Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Garden Theatre in July this year and concluded its run in Stratford-upon-Avon earlier this week. The production will next open with indoor performances at The Theatre Royal, Nottingham (22-24 October), The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury (27-30 October), and the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford (2-6 November), before transferring to the Barbican for a strictly limited London run from Tuesday 16 November until Friday 31 December, with a Press Night on Tuesday 23 November 2021. The Comedy of Errors at the Barbican is sponsored by ICBC (London).
Naomi Sheldon says:
“I’m thrilled to be returning to the RSC in their production of The Comedy of Errors, and honoured to be sharing the role with Hedydd Dylan. Playing Adriana as pregnant not only has personal poignancy for me as a new mother of twins, but also adds new complexity and comedy to the role which this production explores so richly. I’m delighted to be job sharing with a mother to be, and this way of working feels very hopeful for working mothers in this industry. The company have been hugely welcoming and I can’t wait to get started on tour, before heading to the Barbican this winter.”
Director Phillip Breen says:
“In the early part of rehearsals we received the wonderful news that Hedydd Dylan, our Adrianna, is pregnant. We hadn’t considered a pregnant Adrianna before rehearsals, but when Hedydd, me and Designer Max Jones discussed the idea, we thought it worked rather well. It raises the stakes on elements of the relationship between Adrianna and Antipholus of Ephesus and accounts for some of the complexities in their relationship but also, ultimately, their great bond, too. It also gives an added dimension to the family reunion at the end. Hedydd and the company have had great fun incorporating this idea into the production. This also means that we have been able to welcome the brilliant Naomi Sheldon to the company on tour, when the two actors will job share before Hedydd leaves the company to have her baby and Naomi – herself a mother to one-year-old twins - takes over permanently for the Barbican. Job sharing like this happens more and more in the profession and is a very welcome development for actors with young families.”
Naomi Sheldon’s previous RSC credits include The Merry Wives of Windsor and The Mouse and His Child. Other theatre credits include: Good Girl (Trafalgar Studios/Roundabout/Old Red Lion); Partners in Crime (Queen’s Theatre); Don’t Waste Your Bullets on the Dead (Vaults Festival); Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Mischief Theatre); The Pride (ATG); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Royal & Derngate); Sex With a Stranger (Trafalgar Studios); Collery Row (Liquid Theatre); The Wind in the Willows (Watermill Theatre); Waiting for Lefty (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Reclining Nude with Black Stockings (Arcola); The Emperor Jones (National Theatre). On screen credits include Malory Towers, Whitstable Pearl, Casualty, Porters, Red Dwarf, Diaries of the Great War, The Hour, Doctors, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Ashes to Ashes, Cla’am and Hi-Lo Joe.
Naomi joins the company which includes; Toyin Ayedun-Alase (Courtesan), Jonathan Broadbent (Dromio of Syracuse), Antony Bunsee (Egeon), Alfred Clay (Dr Pinch), Hedydd Dylan (Adrianna), William Grint (2nd Merchant), Greg Haiste (Dromio of Ephesus), Avita Jay (Luciana), Zoe Lambert (Aemelia), Guy Lewis (Antipholus of Syracuse), Dyfrig Morris (2nd Merchant Bodyguard), Baker Mukasa (Angelo), Patrick Osborne (Balthasar), Rowan Polonski (Antipholus of Ephesus) Nicholas Prasad (Duke Solinus), Riad Richie (1st Merchant) and Sarah Seggari (Luce).
For media enquiries please contact:
Bethany Arnold, RSC Media Relations Officer
bethany.arnold@rsc.org.uk
LISTINGS INFORMATION
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
Barbican Box Office: Book tickets via https://www.barbican.org.uk/
Run time approx. 2 hours 20 minutes (including interval)
Tickets from £20 - £57.50 with a limited number of Premium Seats available at £72.50
Groups and schools rates available on selected performances
Day seats will be available at £10
£5 tickets available for 14-25 year olds
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Tuesday 16 November – Friday 31 December 2021
Press night: Tuesday 23 November 2021, 7pm
Monday-Saturday, 7.15pm
Thursday & Saturday matinees, 1.30pm (from 20 November)
Please note that there will be no performances on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day or the evening of New Year’s Eve. Additional matiness will take place on Tuesday 28 December and Friday 31 December.
RSC ASSISTED PERFORMANCES AT THE BARBICAN
Relaxed and Captioned performance
Thursday 9 Dec, 1.30pm
Performance with Integrated BSL Interpreter
Wednesday 15 December, 7.15pm
Captioned performance, celebrating the 21st anniversary of Stage Text.
Saturday 20 November, 7.30pm
Captioned and Audio Described performance
Saturday 11 December, 1.30pm
A touch tour will take place at 11.30am, before the audio described performance.
EVENTS
Post Show Talk Back (BSL interpreted)
Wednesday 15 December (post evening show)
ON TOUR
Booking details for the three tour venues can be found here.
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 Acting Companies are generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation and The Kovner Foundation
The Comedy of Errors is supported by RSC Season Supporter Charles Holloway
Our London production of The Comedy of Errors is kindly supported by ICBC (London)
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