Sam Hodges, Director of Nuffield Theatre, today announces the cast for his world première production of Nick Dear's new play DEDICATION - SHAKESPEARE AND SOUTHAMPTON, which investigates the relationship between William Shakespeare and the 3rd Earl of Southampton. Tom McKay plays Shakespeare and Tom Rhys-Harries plays Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl of Southampton. The production opens on 20 September, with previews from 9 September, runs until 8 October.
Patron? Collaborator? Employer? Voyeur? Lover? William Shakespeare is on trial. Questioned about his relationship with the 3rd Earl of Southampton. What exactly did happen between them? The evidence: Tender poems. Financial dependency. Attempted revolution. A charge of treason. A compelling new romantic drama set in the powder keg of sex, politics and power in Elizabethan England.
Nick Dear's plays include The Dark Earth and the Light Sky, Lunch in Venice, Power, The Villains' Opera, Zenobia, In the Ruins, Food of Love, The Art of Success, Pure Science, and Temptation. He also collaborated with Peter Brook on the development of Qui est là?. His adaptations include Frankenstein, The Promise, Summerfolk, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, The Last Days of Don Juan and A Family Affair. His screenplays include Persuasion, The Turn of the Screw, Cinderella, The Gambler, Byron and Eroica. Opera work includes The Palace in the Sky and Siren Song; and for radio Matter Permitted, The Miracle of Reason, Secrets of the Small Hours, and The News from Home.
Tom McKay plays William Shakespeare. His theatre credits include Julius Caesar (Shakespeare's Globe), for the Tricycle, Greta Garbo Came To Donegal and The Great Game (also US tour, Public Theatre New York), Frost Nixon (Donmar West End), Rough Cuts (Royal Court Theatre), On The Third Day (West End), Gladiator Games (Sheffield Crucible/Stratford East), Macbeth (Almeida Theatre), The Arab Israeli Cookbook (Gate Theatre), Romeo & Juliet (Theatre Royal Bath tour), for National Theatre, Henry V and Mother Clap's Molly House (also West End) Simplicity (Orange Tree Theatre), Elizabeth Rex (Birmingham Repertory), Macbeth and Lord Of The Flies (RSC). For television his work includes The Bastard Executioner, Endeavour, The Lost Legion, Transporter, The White Queen, Hatfields and McCoys, The Little House; and for film, The Harrow, Kill Comman, Clubbed, The Feral Generation, Imagine Me & You and Chromophobia.
Tom Rhys-Harries plays Henry Wriothesley. His theatre credits include Creditors (Young Vic), Four (The Old Vic), Hotel (National Theatre), Mojo (Harold Pinter Theatre), The History Boys (Sheffield Crucible) and Torch Song Trilogy (Menier Chocolate Factory). His television work includes Hinterland II, Jekyll and Hyde, Under Milkwood, D-Day: Last Letters Home, and Parades End; and for film, Crow, The Inbetweeners - The Long Goodbye, Hot Property, Iron Clad: Battle For Blood and Hunky Dory.
Sam Hodges is Director and CEO OF Nuffield Theatre. Dedication - Shakespeare and Southampton is the second Nuffield production Hodges has directed, following The Glass Menagerie in 2015. Previously he founded the HighTide Festival Theatre in 2007 and was the Artistic Director for five years, during which time he produced over 25 new plays, co-producing with the National Theatre, the The Old Vic and the Bush Theatre, amongst others. Between 2012 and 2014, he ran the Criterion Theatre in London's West End, for whom he curated a late-night programme and a one-off summer season of new work to celebrate the London Olympics.
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