The Shakespeare In Love UK Tour opens at the Theatre Royal Bath on 4 October 2018 with full casting announced.

A new tour of Shakespeare In Love is being produced by Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Theatre Royal Bath Productions. The Shakespeare In Love UK Tour opens at Theatre Royal Bath on Thursday 4 October 2018 with press night on Thursday 11 October and will then embark on a national tour to Nottingham, Malvern, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Chichester, with further venues to be announced. 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 frosty 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.

Pierro Niel-Mee will star as Will Shakespeare with Imogen Daines as Viola, Rob Edwards as Fennyman, Geraldine Alexander as the Queen, Edmund Kingsley as Kit Marlowe, Bill Ward as Wessex, Ian Hughes as Henslowe, Giles Taylor as Tilney and De Lesseps, Edward Harrison as Burbage and Philip Labey as Sam. The cast also includes Rowan Polonski as Ned Alleyn/Catling, Kevin N Golding as Lambert/Wabash, Joshua Richards as Frees/Ralph, Jonathan Blaydon as Nol/Valentine, Richard Rowe McGhie as Adam, Rosalind Steele as Molly, Toby Webster as Peter/Robin and Jazmine Wilkinson as Webster/Mistress Quickly.

The Oscar-winning film Shakespeare in Love written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard and starring Judi Dench, Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow went on to win seven Academy Awards, including best screenplay, following its premiere in 1998. It was adapted for stage by Lee Hall, with music by Paddy Cunneen, and opened for a triumphant West End run in 2014 to both critical and public acclaim.

The Shakespeare In Love UK Tour is directed by Phillip Breen with design by Max Jones, lighting by Tina MacHugh, sound by Dyfan Jones, movement by Ayse Tashkiran, music by Paddy Cunneen and with Associate Producers Rebecca Stafford, Eilene Davidson and Mark Puddle.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE UK TOUR

4 - 13 October 2018

Theatre Royal Bath

16 - 20 October 2018

Nottingham Theatre Royal

23 - 27 October 2018

Malvern Festival Theatre

30 October - 3 November 2018

Oxford Playhouse

5 - 10 November 2018

Cambridge Arts Theatre

12 - 17 November 2018

King's Theatre Edinburgh

20 - 24 November 2018

Chichester Festival Theatre