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The Royal Shakespeare Company and Neal Street Productions have revealed the complete ensemble cast for the American debut of the “Hamnet” stage play with Kemi-Bo Jacobs taking on the role of Agnes and Rory Alexander portraying William Shakespeare.
The critically lauded stage adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling novel will launch its U.S. tour at Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s The Yard on Feb. 10, running through March 8. The production subsequently moves to Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. (March 17-April 12) and concludes at American Conservatory Theater’s Toni Rembe Theatre in San Francisco (April 22-May 24).
Award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti adapted O’Farrell’s Women’s Prize for Fiction winner for the stage, with direction by Erica Whyman, former acting artistic director of the RSC. The narrative centers on Agnes Hathaway, a healer who marries Latin tutor William Shakespeare in 1582 Warwickshire, and explores how the couple navigates the devastating loss of their 11-year-old son Hamnet to the plague.
“I am delighted to be revisiting this extraordinary story for U.S. audiences, and to be making this production with a stellar line-up of performers,” said Whyman. “Kemi-Bo Jacobs and Rory Alexander are bringing Agnes and William alive on the stage with a luminous intelligence and a profound and shocking understanding of the love and loss that shaped their lives.”
Jacobs’ recent stage work includes the National Theatre’s “Coriolanus,” Chichester’s “The Other Boleyn Girl” and the RSC’s “The Winter’s Tale.” Her screen credits span Netflix’s “The Letter for The King,” Hulu’s “The Great” and “Doctor Who.”
Alexander currently appears in the Starz series “Outlander: Blood of My Blood” and earned a BIFA longlist nomination for best breakthrough performance in “Inland” opposite Mark Rylance. He portrayed Boogie in Danny Boyle’s “Pistol” for FX/Hulu.
The ensemble also features Troy Alexander as Bartholomew, Nigel Barrett as John/Will Kempe, Ajani Cabey as Hamnet/Thomas Day, Saffron Dey as Judith, Victoria Elliott as Joan and Elizabeth Condell, Heather Forster as Eliza, Karl Haynes as Ned/Henry Condell and Physician, Ava Hinds Jones as Susanna, Nicki Hobday as Jude and Physician’s Wife, Penny Layden as Mary, Matilda McCarthy as Tilly/Caterina and Will’s Landlady, and Bert Seymour as Burbage/Father John.
The original RSC/Neal Street production premiered at Stratford-upon-Avon’s Swan Theatre in 2023, breaking box office records before transferring to London’s Garrick Theatre with the largest advance in the venue’s history.
O’Farrell’s novel has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide and claimed the National Book Critics Circle Award and Waterstones Book of the Year in 2020. The work also garnered shortlists for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and British Book Awards’ Fiction Book of the Year.
Tom Piper designed sets and costumes, with lighting by Prema Mehta, sound by Simon Baker, music by Oğuz Kaplangi, casting by Amy Ball and movement by Ayşe Tashkiran.
The stage production’s U.S. tour arrives as the property gains fresh momentum following the film adaptation’s performance at the Golden Globes, where Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” claimed best motion picture drama and Jessie Buckley won best actress in a motion picture drama for her portrayal of Agnes. The Focus Features film, produced by Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes, also earned nominations for best director, best supporting actor (Paul Mescal), best screenplay and best original score.
English (US) ·