Winning no less than seven Academy Awards, including best screenplay, the 1998 film of Shakespeare in Love, starring Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench, became an instant classic. Adapted by Lee Hall for a triumphant West End run, this epic Elizabethan extravaganza is exuberant, witty, funny, and a beautiful homage to love, art, and theatre itself.
Young Will Shakespeare has writer's block... the deadline for his new play - a comedy called Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter - is fast approaching; he’s struggling to finish the first line of a sonnet and he's in dire need of inspiration. Then he meets the beguiling Viola de Lesseps, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy merchant. Viola is prepared to do anything – including risking the regal disapproval of Queen Elizabeth I - to fulfil her illicit dream of performing on the London stage and pursuing a passionate affair with the greatest playwright of the age.
Will Shakespeare - Pierro Niel-Mee
Kit Marlowe - Edmund Kingsley
Henslowe - Ian Hughes
Fennyman - Rob Edwards
Frees/Wabash - Kevin N Golding
Lambert/Ralph - Joshua Richards
Richard Burbage - Edward Harrison
Wardrobe Mistress/Kate/Musician - Rosalind Steele
Sam - Philip Labey
Nol - Jonathan Blaydon
Tilney/Sir Robert de Lesseps - Giles Taylor
Queen Elizabeth/Nurse - Geraldine Alexander
Viola de Lesseps - Imogen Davies
Barman/Adam/Catling - Richard Rowe-McGhie
Peter/Robin/Musician - Toby Webster
Webster - Jazmine Wilkinson
Lord Wessex - Bill Ward
Ned Alleyn - Rowan Polonski
Screenplay - Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard
Stage Adaptation - Lee Hall
Original Music & Composer - Paddy Cunneen
Director - Phillip Breen
Designer - Max Jones
Lighting Designer - Tina MacHugh
Sound Designer - Dyfan Jones
Movement Director - Ayse Tashkiran
Fight Director - Renny Krupinski
Casting Director - Ginny Schiller CDG
Producers - Eleanor Lloyd Productions & Theatre Royal Bath
A complete and utter invigorating joy.
★★★★
A vibrant revival.
The Stage
★★★★
Sure to be a staple hit for years to come.
WhatsonStage
