The Cardinal Comes To Southwark Playhouse

The Cardinal, James Shirley's tragic masterpiece will be presented at the Southwark Playhouse in a new production starring Stephen Boxer in April 2017.

Staged as one of the last five plays performed in England before Oliver Cromwell's theatre ban, The Cardinal is a captivating story of a religious monster's relentless pursuit of power. Playwright James Shirley (born 1596) was the last of the great Elizabethan dramatists linking the Golden Age with the age of Restoration.

The state of Navarre is in crisis. An unscrupulous Cardinal has the ear of the King and is hungry for power. The Duchess Rosaura longs to marry the Count D’Alvarez, but the Cardinal wants her for his brutish nephew. To tighten his grip on the Kingdom, the ruthless Cardinal will stop at nothing to secure the marriage. But in the Duchess it seems he has finally met his match…

The Cardinal will star Stephen Boxer (King Lear - National Theatre), directed by Justin Audibert (The Jew Of Malta - Royal Shakespeare Company) and produced by Troupe (After October, Flowering Cherry).

The Cardinal will be presented from 26 April - 27 May 2017.

BOOK TICKETS FOR THE CARDINAL AT SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE