Cast Set For THE TAMING OF THE SHREW at Shakespeare's Globe

Shakespeare’s Globe has announced the cast of The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Jude Christian (Titus Andronicus, 2023). The cast comprises Matthew Ashforde as Ensemble/Cover, Nigel Barrett as Christopher Sly/Gremio, John Cummins as Biondello, Lizzie Hopley as Hortensio, Tyreke Leslie as Tranio, Andrew Leung as Petruchio, Sophie Mercell as Bianca, Syakira Moeladi as Ensemble/Cover, Jamie-Rose Monk as Vincentio, Eloise Secker as Grumio, Simon Startin as Baptista, Yasmin Taheri as Lucentio, and Thalissa Texieira as Katherina.

The Taming of the Shrew is designed by Rosie Elnile, with Corin Buckeridge as Composer, Priya Patel Appleby as 2024 Globe Resident Assistant Director and Emma Brunton as Movement & Puppetry Director. Haruka Kuroda is Fight and Intimacy Director, with Liv Morris as Dramaturg. 

Director Jude Christian says: The Taming of the Shrew is a provocative play that asks deeply uncomfortable questions about gender, power, punishment, and the roles we choose to play throughout our lives. It therefore demands a cast who are fearless thinkers, standout performers, and profoundly caring human beings. I feel very fortunate to have assembled this brilliant group of collaborators and I can’t wait to see what we can make together.

Cast Biographies

Matthew Ashforde will play Ensemble/Cover Matthew’s Television & Theatre credits are many & varied. His most recent theatre credit was the role of Natty Hemworth in Distinguised Villa at Finborough Theatre, for which he received an OFFIE nomination for best actor. Matthew’s other stage credits include Fagin in Oliver! (Aberystwyth Theatre), Graham Price in Graham Price Superstar (Birmingham Rep/Soho Theatre); The Web (Young Vic); Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (The Birmingham Rep); Tom in Clench (Vertical Line/ Greenwich Theatre); The Spring Tide (The Old Red Lion); Cocky in The Roar of the Greasepaint the Smell of the Crowd (Finborough Theatre); Isfhan Calling (The Old Red Lion); The Good Woman of Setzuan (National/Cottesloe & Tour); Oliver! (London Palladium) A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Eye Theatre); Relatively Speaking (Eye Theatre). Matthew has also appeared in several pantomimes across the U.K. On television Matthew is well known for his regular role of Mr Cranbourne in 3 series of Hetty Feather for CBBC. Other regular roles include Arturo in Never Better (BBC); Darren in Grass (BBC); William in Wonderful You (Hartswood Films/ITV) and Darren McClaren in Is it Legal (Hartswood Films/ITV/Channel 4)Guest appearances include Never Let Me Go (Hulu), Call the Midwife (BBC), The Larkins (ITV), Sliced (Dave Channel) Banged Up Abroad (Raw TV Ltd); Doctors (BBC); Eastenders (BBC); Snatch (Crackle); Josh (BBC); Cradle to Grave (BBC); Derek (Channel 4); Mr Selfridge (ITV); Up the Women (Baby Cow/BBC); Casualty (BBC); Father Brown (BBC); Silent Witness (BBC); Mayday (Qdos/BBC); Being Human (BBC3); Phone Shop (Channel 4); The Bill (Talkback Thames); Jekyll (Hartswood Film/BBC); Man of Letters (BBC);  The Robinsons (BBC); Greenwing (Channel 4); My Family (BBC); Mr Bean (Tiger Aspect/ITV); An Ungentlemanly Act (UNION PICTURES/BBC); Harry Enfield and Chums (BBC).

Nigel Barrett will play Christopher Sly/Gremio. Theatre includes Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (Complicite), Julius Caesar (RSC), Kidstown (National Theatre Wales), Little Bits of Ruined Beauty (Pentabus), Britannicus (Lyric Hammersmith), I Am Kevin, 100:Unearthed (Wildworks), Living Newspaper (Royal Court), Pops (Edinburgh/High Tide Festival), The Mysteries (Royal Exchange Manchester), Party Skills for the End of the World (Manchester International Festival/ Shoreditch Town Hall), Kingdom Come, Richard III - An Arab Tragedy (RSC), Margate/Dreamland (National Theatre/Shoreditch Town Hall), Get Stuff Break Free, The Eye Test (National Theatre), Attack of the Wolfdogs, The Show In Which Hopefully Nothing Happens, Baddies the Musical (Unicorn), Blasted (Barrel Organ/Styx), Everyone (Battersea Arts Centre), The Iphigenia Quartet (The Gate), The Body (The Barbican), Cyrano de Bergerac (Northern Stage Co), The Passion, Praxis Makes Perfect, Shelflife (National Theatre Wales/Berlin Festspiele), Madman (Theatre Royal Plymouth), There Has Possibly Been An Incident (Soho Theatre/Royal Exchange Manchester), A Speakers Progress (Peter Brook’s Bouffes du Nord Paris / Brooklyn Academy of Music) The Mirror for Princes ( Barbican/ Peter Brook’s Bouffes du Nord Paris / Brooklyn Academy of Music ), Pericles (Regents Park Open Air Theatre), The Tennis Show, Tropicana, Amato Saltone, The Architects, The Boy Who Climbed Out Of His Face, The Shunt Lounge (Shunt/National Theatre). Film and TV includes One Hundred & Eighty (Dark Avenue Film Ltd), Doctors, Casualty, The Mysteries, Coast, The Lens, Crimewatch (BBC), Dream Agency ( Forest Fringe/Arthaus), Cycles (Toynbee Films), The Gospel of Us ( Welsh Film Council), Meet the Piltdowns (Kane Productions), Hairy Eyeball (Channel 4), England My England (Film 4), Robin Hood (Squint Opera), Better Than Life (Telecaster/Coney). Radio includes A Song For Edmond Shakespeare, The Influence, How To Survive The Roman Empire, Richard Tyrone Jones’ Big Heart, The Liberty Cap (BBC Radio 4).

John Cummins will play Biondello. Theatre credits include Romeo & Juliet (Regent’s Park Theatre), The Whip, King John (RSC), Don Quixote (RSC, The Garrick) Great Apes (The Arcola), Doctor Faustus, The Alchemist, Don Quixote (RSC) Anna Karenina (Royal Exchange Manchester), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe), Eternal Love UK Tour (Shakespeare’s Globe/ETT), Stuart: A Life Backwards (The Crucible Sheffield), The Vortex (The Rose Kingston), Much Ado About Nothing (Ludlow Festival), Anne Boleyn UK Tour (Shakespeare’s Globe/ETT), 66 Books: In The Land of Uz (The Bush), All’s Well That Ends Well, Anne Boleyn (Shakespeare’s Globe), Eigengrau (The Bush), Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Good Soul of Szechuan (Library Theatre Manchester), A Stab In The Dark (The Kings Head/Latitude Festival), Our Country’s Good (The Watermill), Edward II (The BAC), The Pains Of Youth (The Belgrade), Romeo & Juliet (The BAC), The Reporter, The Alchemist (The National Theatre) The Beaver Coat (The Finborough). Television credits include The Franchise (HBO), The Following Events Are Based on A Pack of Lies (BBC), Invasion (Apple TV+), CODE 404 (Sky), Temple (Sky), The Witcher (Netflix), Doctor Who (BBC), Midsomer Murders (ITV), 24: Live Another Day (FOX), The Hour, Eastenders, Holby City, Doctors (BBC), Banged Up Abroad (National Geographic). Film credits include Blitz (Apple TV+), Havoc (Netflix), Suffragette (Focus Features/Ruby Films).

Lizzie Hopley will play Hortensio. Lizzie was born in Liverpool and trained at RADA. This is her debut season at the Globe. Other stage work includes the RSC’s Roaring Girls Season, an international tour of Tis Pity She’s a Whore with Cheek by Jowl, USA tour of The Taming of the Shrew with AFTLS, playing Kate, a No 1 tour of Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party and The Audience at Southampton Nuffield in which she played Margaret Thatcher. Notable TV and film work includes Testament (Angel Studios), The Crown (Netflix), Time 2 (BBC), The Devil’s Hour (Amazon Studios), Soulmates (Amazon AMC), The Long Song (BBC/Heyday Films), Little Boy Blue (ITV), Luther (BBC), Cary Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre, Pierrepoint with Timothy Spall, The Thirteenth Tale with Vanessa Redgrave, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (ITV), Any Human Heart (C4), The Day of the Triffids (BBC) and Randall & Hopkirk Deceased. As a writer, Lizzie was a winner of Pozzitive TV’s Funny Dot Comp in 2021. She has a comedy series in development with Showem Entertainment and is a prolific writer of Doctor Who audios for Big Finish, winning her first Scribe Award for The Curse of Lady Macbeth. Lizzie took a year out in 2017 to work full-time as a comedian to create popular blog: Diary of a Stand Up Virgin.

Tyreke Leslie will play Tranio. Tyreke trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His theatre credits include First Encounters: Romeo & Juliet, As You Like It, First Encounters: Twelfth Night (RSC), Dead Poets Live: Nonsense Show (Dead Poets Live), Dennis Of Penge, Anna Karenina, Julius Caesar, Intimate Apparel (GSMD), Liter-Airy (My Aerial Home). Film includes: Watcher, Everybody Alive Wants Answers, Heartband (for Royal Court). Tyreke has been nominated for an Ian Charleson Award for his performance in Omar Elerian’s RSC production of As You Like It, with the winner due to be announced. He is also a director and theatre maker and recently directed the play Last Goal Wins. 

Andrew Leung will play Petruchio. On television, Andrew can be seen as Kevin Duff in Stephen Frears' Mini-Series Quiz opposite Mathew Mcfadyen and in POP’s Flack with Sophie Okenedo and Anna Paquin. Other TV credits include BBC’s Doctor Who, Phoneshop and Queens of Mystery. On stage, Andrew has appeared in Chimerica at the Almeida/Pinter Theatre, (Best Play Award, Evening Standard Theatre Awards in 2013). Since then, Andrew has appeared in Romeo and Juliet at the Sheffield Crucible and Snow in Midsummer for RSC. Andrew's film credits include Lilting playing opposite Ben Whishaw, Walt Disney's Cruella playing the assistant to Emma Thompson, in Stephen Speilberg's Ready Player One, and Greta Gerwig's Barbie.

Sophie Mercell will play Bianca. Sophie trained at the Guilford School of Acting. Stage credits include Cyrano De Bergerac (The Jamie Lloyd Company at the Harold Pinter Theatre & Brooklyn Academy of Music); A Meal (Southwark Playhouse); Home I’m Darling (Theatre by the Lake, Bolton Octagon & Stephen Joseph); Get Happy (Told by an Idiot); Quality Street (Northern Broadsides UK Tour); One Hundred Trillion (Old Vic Workrooms); The Ugly Duckling (The Herd at Hull Truck Theatre); All You Need is LSD (Told by an Idiot, Birmingham Rep and UK Tour); Bread and Roses (Oldham Coliseum); Let me Play the Lion too (Told by an Idiot at the Barbican), The Importance of Being Earnest (Brockley Jack Studio Theatre). Television credits include Eastenders (BBC); Coronation Street (ITV). Film credits include The Radleys (Sky). Sophie is a trustee for Told by an Idiot.

Syakira Moeladi will play Ensemble/Cover. Syakira Moeladi trained at Drama Centre London.Theatre includes Dear Octopus (National Theatre); As You Like It (Soho Place); Rage Room (Why Can’t I say I Love You?) (Arcola); Husbands and Sons, The Seagull, Rage, Twelfth Night, The Cherry Orchard, Yerma (Drama Centre); Billy Elliot The Musical (also live recording) (West End); Matilda The Musical (RSC).TV and Film includes A Long Time Quiet (Short).

Jamie-Rose Monk will play Vincentio. Jamie-Rose Monk trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Theatre credits include Christmas Actually (The Southbank Centre), Greatest Days the Musical (National Tour) The Witch Finder’s Sister (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch) Talent (Sheffield Crucible); Dick Whittington (National Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bridge Theatre); The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Park Theatre); Yap Yap Yap (Royal Festival Hall and Soho Theatre); Fat – A One Woman Show (Hackney Showrooms/Gaggle Productions); The Poisoners’ Pact (Stuff of Dreams Tour); Monologue Slam Winner’s Edition (Theatre Royal Stratford East/Triforce Promotions). Television credits include My Lady Jane (Amazon Studios); Gangsta Granny Strikes Again (BBC); Doctors (Semi Regular, BBC); Holby City (BBC); Class Dismissed (Series Regular, Series 1-3, CBBC); Gameface (Objective Fiction). Film credits include Holmes & Watson (Columbia Pictures Corporation). Comedy credits include Buttery Brown Monk (Leicester Square Theatre); The Gag Show (Gaggle Productions). Radio credits include Sketchtopia – Series 1 & 2 (BBC Radio 4), Athena’s Cancel Culture (BBC Radio 4)

Eloise Secker will play Grumio. Eloise trained at Rose Bruford College and was a finalist for the BBC Carlton Hobbs Competition. Theatre credits include Measure for Measure (Shakespeare’s Globe), Imperium (West End/RSC); Merchant of Venice, All’s Well that Ends Well, Richard III, The Rover,Two Noble Kinsmen, 7 Acts Of Mercy (RSC); Snow White and The Happy Ever After Beauty Salon (The Wrong Crowd/Plymouth Drum); The Santa Trap, There Will Be Monsters (Southampton Mayflower/Rose Kingston/National Tour); Match (Sherman Cymru/National Tour); The Events (Young Vic); Enduring Song (Southwark Playhouse); Pants On Fire’s Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Flea Theatre, New York/UK Tour) and Splosh (Salisbury Playhouse/Prime Theatre) Television credits include Phoenix Rise (BBC) Radio credits include Murder By Proxy, The Gift (BBC Radio 4); Chain Gang (BBC Radio 7 Series) and Heathrow (Theatre 503/Urban Scrawl) 

Simon Startin will play Baptista. Simon’s theatre credits include Hir (Park Theatre); The Tempest (Royal Shakespeare Company); Afterlife, The Visit (National Theatre); Romeo and Juliet, Richard III (Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre/Blenheim Palace); Ralegh: The Treason Trial (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Plague (Arcola Theatre); The Government Inspector (Birmingham Rep); Islands (The Bush Theatre/Edinburgh Festival); Beyond Midnight (Trestle Theatre Company); Sherlock Holmes in Trouble (Manchester Royal Exchange); The Tempest (Theatre Royal Bury St. Edmunds/Theatre Setup); Revolting (which he also wrote for Jacksons Lane/The Ministry of Clowns); Pericles, Spangleguts, Tales From The Arabian Nights (London Bubble); The Fly (Oldham Coliseum); Now You Know (Hampstead Theatre); Hamlet, Bartleby (Red Shift); Tartuffe (Mappa Mundi); Fanny Hill (Duke’s Theatre, Lancaster); Waiting For Godot (Tottering Bipeds); The Fall of the House of Usher, Volpone, Into The Mystic, UBU (Graeae); Collateral Damage, Subterranean (Traverse Theatre); The Changeling (Battersea Arts Centre). Film credits include Battery (BBC); Keen Eddie (Paramount); Preserve (Channel Four). Television credits include The Musketeers, Doctors, Mapp and Lucia, Holby City, Tag, Criminal Justice, Everytime I Look At You, Dunkirk, Are You Looking At Me?, Rhyming Criplets (BBC). 

Yasmin Taheri will play Lucentio. Yasmin trained at RADA.  Her theatre credits include Tartuffe, Tamburlaine, Merchant of Venice, Henry VI Parts II & III (RSC), £1 Thursdays (Finborough Theatre).  Her screen credits include The Long Shadow (ITV), Murder in Provence (ITV/Britbox) and Ladhood (BBC).

Thalissa Texieira will play Katherina. Thalissa's most recent theatre work includes starring in Julius Caesar (RSC) as Brutus, Dr Semmelweis (Bristol Old Vic), Women Beware Women, Othello, The Broken Heart, The Changeling (Shakespeare’s Globe), Blood Wedding (Young Vic), Yerma (Young Vic, Park Avenue Armoury), Julie (National Theatre), The Night Watch (Manchester Royal Exchange) and Electra (Old Vic). Thalissa’s television work includes starring in Sid Gentle and AMC's Ragdoll, ITV's Too Close, Sky's Two Weeks To Live, Anne Bolyen (CH 4) and the BBC's Trigonometry. Most recent projects include the short film We Met Before, which Thalissa wrote and directed, and feature film Harvest, directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari. Thalissa trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

The Taming of the Shrew was cast by Becky Paris, Head of Casting at Shakespeare’s Globe.

 

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