Globe's RICHARD III & TWELFTH NIGHT Set for West-End Transfer November

The Shakespeare's Globe productions of RICHARD III and TWELFTH NIGHT will transfer to the West End from the 2nd November 2012 to the 3rd of February 2013 at the Apollo Theatre.

Mark Rylance will play the title role in Richard III and Olivia in Twelfth Night when Tim Carroll’s Shakespeare’s Globe productions transfer to the West End later this year. Joining Rylance will be Stephen Fry as Malvolio in Twelfth Night and Samuel Barnett and Johnny Flynn.

Designs are by Jenny Tiramani and music is by Claire van Kampen who along with Tim Carroll are the creative team behind the Globe’s original 2002 version of Twelfth Night. The productions will be designed using original Shakespearian practices.

The cast for RICHARD III includes Mark Rylance (Richard III), Samuel Barnett (Elizabeth), Liam Brennan (Clarence), Johnny Flynn (Lady Anne), Colin Hurley (King Edward) and Peter Hamilton Dyer.

Richard Duke of Gloucester (Mark Rylance) is determined that he should wear the crown of England. He has already despatched one king and that king’s son; now all that stand in his way are two credulous brothers and two helpless nephews – the Princes in the Tower. And woe betide those – the women he wrongs, the henchmen he betrays – who dare to raise a voice against him. Monstrous, but theatrically electric, Richard is Shakespeare’s most charismatic, self-delighting villain, revelling at every moment in his homicidal, hypocritical journey to absolute power.

Richard III will be performed in an all-male Original Practices production, exploring clothing, music, dance and settings possible circa 1593.

The cast for TWELFTH NIGHT includes Mark Rylance (Olivia), Samuel Barnett (Sebastian), Liam Brennan (Orsino), Johnny Flynn (Viola), Stephen Fry (Malvolio), Peter Hamilton Dyer (Feste) and Colin Hurley (Sir Toby Belch).

In the household of Olivia (Mark Rylance), two campaigns are being quietly waged – one by the lovelorn Duke Orsino against the heart of the indifferent Olivia; the other by an alliance of servants and hangers-on against the high-handedness of her steward, the pompous Malvolio (Stephen Fry). When Orsino engages the cross-dressed Viola to plead with Olivia on his behalf, a bittersweet chain of events follows. Filled with a cast of unforgettable characters, Twelfth Night combines cruelty with high comedy and the pangs of unrequited love with some of the subtlest poetry and most exquisite songs Shakespeare ever wrote.

This revival of the Globe’s 2002 award-winning Twelfth Night will performed in an all-male Original Practices production, exploring clothing, music, dance and settings possible circa 1601.

Multi award-winning actor Mark Rylance was last in the West End at the Apollo Theatre playing John ‘Rooster’ Byron in Jerusalem, a role he also played at the Royal Court and on Broadway. Previously in the West End he played Valere in La Bête, Hamm in Samuel Beckett’s Endgame and Robert In Boeing-Boeing. His other theatre work includes many productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, The National Theatre and the Glasgow Citizens. During his time as Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe his work as an actor included the title roles in Henry V and Hamlet as well as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra and Olivia in Twelfth Night, a role he will now recreate ten years on. His film and television work includes The Other Boleyn Girl, Prospero’s Books, Angels and Insects, Leonardo and David Kelly in C4’s The Government Inspector for which he won the BAFTA Best Actor Award.

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