Shakespeare’s Globe have announced full casting for Metamorphoses which runs in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from 30 September - 30 October.
The cast includes Steffan Donnelly, Fiona Hampton, Charlie Josephine and Irfan Shamji. See photos of the cast in rehearsals below.
Metamorphoses is a new play inspired by Ovid’s collection of Greek Myths and was written bespoke for the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse by the Globe’s first writers-in-residence in nearly four centuries Sami Ibrahim, Laura Lomas and Sabrina Mahfouz.
The production is co-Directed by the Globe’s Associate Artistic Director, Sean Holmes and Holly Race Roughan, the new Artistic Director of Headlong.
The Globe have also announced that audiences will be able to buy £5 standing tickets to the main productions in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse for the first time, with 48 standing tickets available per show.
Ovid’s stories explore the power of transformation, the resilience of humans and the wonder of life. They were a great inspiration to Shakespeare, and now, over 2,000 years later are reimagined for our world today.
Michelle Terry, Artistic Director, said: "This important piece of new writing will see the warmth of our candlelit Playhouse embrace some of the most vital voices working right now through the timeless vitality of Ovid’s vision of human nature. This re-imagining of Metamorphoses will explore our boundless capacity for love, cruelty and transformation, as this extraordinary company rewrite fables past, through the lens of our topsy-turvy present, with an eye on our mythically unpredictable future. They cannot help but entertain, comfort and inspire as they go."
Full casting details:
Steffan Donnelly: Steffan returns to Shakespeare’s Globe after appearing in Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Henry VI Parts 1, 2 & 3, Richard III, Othello, The Winter’s Tale, Pericles, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Titus Andronicus. Other theatre credits include An Oak Tree / Derwen (Tim Crouch), My Body Welsh,Y Tŵr/The Tower, Outside on the Street (Invertigo), Pilgrims (HighTide/The Yard/Theatr Clwyd), A World Elsewhere (Theatre503); Journeying Boys (Barbican) and I Am Not Manuel (Teatre Lliure, Barcelona). Film and Television credits include The Innocents (Netflix), Shakespeare Uncovered (BBC), Bohemian Rhapsody (20th Century Fox) and Darkest Hour (Working Title Films).
Fiona Hampton: Fiona returns to Shakespeare’s Globe after appearing in Much Ado About Nothing and Raleigh: The Treason Trial. Other theatre credits include Touching the Void (West End and International Tour), Tamburlaine (New Earth Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (New Wolsey Theatre), Winter Hill, Private Lives, The Glass Menagerie, Tull, Of Mice and Men, Lighthearted Intercourse (The Octagon Theatre), Playhouse Creatures (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Changeling (Southwark Playhouse), Roar (The Rose Theatre) and Merchant of Venice (Derby Playhouse). Film and Television credits include Nutritiously Nicola (Double Yay Productions), The Collection (Amazon Prime/BBC Worldwide), Switch (ITV), Revolution (Hollow Crown Productions) and Kingsman: The Secret Service and Legacy (Marv Films).
Charlie Josephine: Charlie’s other theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Royal Shakespeare Company), An Oak Tree (Warwick Arts Centre); Buckets (Orange Tree Theatre), Secret Theatre (Lyric Hammersmith) and Julius Caesar (Donmar Warehouse). Charlie's self-penned award-winning plays include Bitch Boxer and BLUSH'(Edinburgh Fringe, Soho Theatre, National and International tour).
Irfan Shamji: Irfan’s previous theatre credits include The Living Newspaper (Royal Court), The Arrival (Bush Theatre), Hedda Tesman (Chichester Festival Theatre), Mayfly (The Orange Tree Theatre), One For Sorrow (Royal Court), Dance Nation (Almeida); and Hamlet (Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre). Film and Television credits include Alder (ITV), Industry (BBC/HBO),The Ipcress File (ITV), Informer (BBC), The Dark Crystal (Netflix), Urban Myths (Sky Arts) and Murder on the Orient Express (20th Century Fox).
Tickets for Metamorphoses are on sale now.
Metamorphoses in rehearsals (Photos: Helen Murray)