Shakespeare's Globe Announces First Season Under Emma Rice

Shakespeare's Globe Artistic Director Emma Rice. Photo: Sarah Lee Shakespeare's Globe today announced Emma Rice's inaugural season as Artistic Director which will be entitled the Wonder Season.

The season will comprise A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming Of The Shrew, Macbeth, 946 The Amazing Story Of Adolphus Tips and Imogen, whilst Jonathan Munby's The Merchant Of Venice starring Jonathan Pryce will open at the Liverpool Playhouse, tour nationally and internationally and return to the Globe stage in October.

The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse will host a touring production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Kneehigh's The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk.

Designer Les Brotherston will install a magical forest which will spill from the piazza onto London's Bankside welcoming everyone to the Globe's season of Wonder.

A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Emma Rice will play from 30 April - 11 September, Caroline Byrne's The Taming Of The Shrew will play from 13 May - 6 August, and Macbeth will be directed by Iqbal Khan and will run from 18 June - 1 October.

Director Matthew Dunster has taken Shakespeare's Cymbeline and renames and reclaimed it as Imogen. This new production will play from 17 September until 16 October.

Acclaimed Kneehigh productions will make guest appearances at the Globe this summer including 946 The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, a co-adaptation by War Horse author Michael Morpurgo and Emma Rice and Daniel Jamieson's The Flying Lovers Of Vitebsk which will be directed by Emma Rice.

In addition to the touring production of The Merchant Of Venice, a touring production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona will be presented by Shakespeare’s Globe and Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, directed by Everyman & Playhouse Associate Director Nick Bagnall. The production will play in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from 19 September to 1 October 2016.

John Wolfson’s play The Inn at Lydda will be performed in the Playhouse in September (Full dates TBC). John is Honorary Curator of Rare Books for the Globe, a playwright and author of William Shakespeare and the Short Story Collections. Based on a reference in the New Testament Apocrypha, the play follows Tiberius Caesar and a remarkable meeting with Jesus Christ in Judea. Having opened the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in 2014, the Globe is now actively planning its very own library and archive on site, on London’s Bankside. John has generously agreed to bequeath to the Globe an important collection of rare and valuable volumes, including a First Folio and Quarto editions. Having these texts will cement the Globe’s reputation as the first point of reference for teaching, research and interpretation of Shakespeare in performance.

For more information on season at Shakespeare's Globe visit their website.