Cast Announced For Shakespeare's Globe's SHAKESPEARE IN THE ABBEY

As celebrations continue for the 400th Anniversary of the First Folio across 2023, Shakespeare's Globe will return to Westminster Abbey for the hugely popular Shakespeare in the Abbey for six special performances beginning this evening and running until Friday 31 March. Before the Abbey hosts the King's coronation, audiences are invited to explore the iconic sacred space for a promenade performance, as a cast of actors perform extracts from some of Shakespeare's most famous plays and sonnets.

Originally conceived by Mark Rylance in 2017, this year Shakespeare in the Abbey is realised in collaboration with Intermission Youth, a charity helping to positively transform the lives of young people, and is directed by Intermission Youth's Artistic Director Darren Raymond. Darren will direct a company of actors, many of whom are Intermission's graduates. Intermission Youth helps to transform the lives of young people living in deprivation and experiencing high levels of anti-social behaviour, family breakdown and dependency. Set up in 2008, Intermission uses Shakespeare as a mirror to young people's lives to explore challenging issues such as youth violence, peer pressure, jealousy, rage and relationships. Their work encompasses an annual youth theatre programme, as well as programmes in schools, pupil referral units, young offenders' institutions and prisons. Using Intermission's techniques of re-imagining Shakespeare, they promote literacy, improve behaviour, build confidence, self-awareness and communication skills.

The cast of Shakespeare in the Abbey comprises Stevie Basaula (EastEnders, BBC), Charlotte Bate (Julius Caesar, Globe), Hoda Bentaher (Othello, Omnibus), Craig Blake (Get Up Stand Up!, Lyric), Peter Bourke (The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, Globe), Nakeba Buchanan (Mr. Graham, National Film and Television School), Philip Correia (Much Ado About Nothing, Globe), Shobu Kapoor (Bridgerton, Netflix), Jeffrey Kissoon (In The Jungle Of Cities, Arcola), Martina Laird (Unforgotten, ITV), Tré Medley (Othello, Changeling), Sara Mokonen (The Jungle, Playhouse), Yung đ. Nguyễn (in his first professional role), Raphael Sowele (The Merchant Of Venice, Almeida), Destiny Tola Onisilé (The Dumping Ground, BBC), Jessica Warbeck (Othello, Globe), and Ashley Zhangazha (Much Ado About Nothing, National Theatre). Bios are listed below.

Stevie Basaula is best known for his role as 'Isaac Baptiste' on EastEnders. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: Shakespeare Within The Abbey (dir. Federay Holmes). Other theatre includes: Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth (all RSC), Takeaway (Theatre503), Come In! Sit Down! (Tricycle Theatre) and The Tempest (London Theatre Workshop). Television includes: Eastenders (BBC) and Bulletproof (Sky One). Film includes: Mandem (NFTS), Zero (Dark Pictures/BBC Films) and The Importance of Skin (Haus Pictures).

Charlotte Bate trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Previous theatre credits include: Julius Caesar (Shakespeare's Globe), I Think We Are Alone (Frantic Assembly), On The Other Hand We're Happy, Daughterhood, Dexter and Winter's Detective Agency (Paines Plough/Theatre Royal Stratford East), The Rivals (The Watermill Theatre), Blackthorn (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Paines Plough), King Lear (The Orange Tree Theatre), Watership Down (The Watermill Theatre), and Romeo and Juliet (Sheffield Crucible). Television credits include: The Doll Factory (Paramount+), The Sandman (Netflix/Warner Bros.), Casualty (BBC), White House Farm (NPX/ITV), Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams (Channel 4/Amazon).

Hoda Bentaher trained at Intermission Youth's theatre. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: Shakespeare Within The Abbey, Sonnet Walks, Pop Up Shakespeare. Other theatre includes: Othello (Omnibus Theatre), Buggy Baby (The Yard Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (RSC), Julius Caesar (Intermission Theatre), Sixteen (Gate Theatre / SPID), Our Town (Charlie Dorfman). Television includes: Riches (Amazon Studios & ITV Drama), Doctors (BBC), Casualty (BBC).

Craig Blake trained at Rose Bruford Drama School. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: Shakespeare's Walks and Shakespeare in the Abbey. Other theatre includes: Get Up Stand Up! (Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Ave), Le Silence et Le Peur/ The Silence and Fear (French Tour Compagnie Lieux Dits), Romeo and Juliet (Ovalhouse Theatre), Bussin' It (OvalHouse Theatre), Blacking Iago (London Shakespeare Workout), Afterbirth (Arcola Theatre), Home and Away (Cardboard Citizens), It's Just a Name (Collective Artistes/Birmingham Rep) No Sweat (Birmingham Rep), Makinde (Tiata Fahodze), Scrape Off the Black (Theatre Royal, Stratford East). Television includes: Grime Kids (BBC), The Chelsea Detective (Acorn), Landscapers (Sky) Safe Space (Sky), Hollyoaks (CH4), Trigonometry (BBC), Eastenders (BBC), Casualty (BBC), Doctors (BBC), Guilt (ITV), Topsy and Tim. Film includes: The Tape, (Amazon Prime), Dragonfly, Below (Miramax), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (Warner Brothers).

Peter Bourke performed in the Globe's 2022 productions of The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, and Hamlet, and the 2021 productions of Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Previous theatre credits include: The Sea (Chichester), The English Game (Headlong), Henry IV Parts I and II, Henry V, Perkin Warbeck (RSC), and The Browning Version & Harlequinade, The Elephant Man, The Provoked Wife and On the Razzle (all National Theatre).

Nakeba Buchanan's film credits include: Mr. Graham (short, National Film and Television School), and Dead Man Running (Revolver Entertainment). Video game credits include: Erica (2019).

Philip Correia trained at LAMDA. This is the second time he has appeared in this unique project, working in collaboration with the brilliant Shakespeare's Globe and Intermission Youth. He is delighted to be returning to the project and these fantastic companies. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: Shakespeare Walks, Shakespeare in the Abbey, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Anthony and Cleopatra and Holy Warriors. Theatre credits include: The Boys Are Kissing (Theatre 503); Othello (ETT/ Shanghai/Dubai); Skellig (Nottingham Playhouse); Betrayal (Derby Theatre); Home Chat (Finborough Theatre); The Herbal Bed (Rose Theatre Kingston, Royal and Derngate); Keepers of Infinite Space (The Park); National Theatre, 50 Year's on Stage (Olivier Theatre); The Pitman Painters (National Theatre/BKL Productions); Judgement Day (The Print Room); The Syndicate (Chichester Minerva Theatre & Tour); Bus Stop (New Vic/SJT); The Cherry Orchard (Birmingham Rep); Country Music (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Northern Odyssey (Live Theatre); Catch (BAC/Old Red Lion); Romeo and Juliet (Jermyn Street Theatre); What Cheryl Did Next (Theatre 503); Hobson's Choice (Chichester Festival Theatre & Tour); The History Boys (Wyndham's Theatre, Lyttleton Theatre & National Tours); Chorus/Schoolboy in The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC). Film Credits include: The War Below (Claykickers Films/Amazon Prime); BLISS! (Mubi/Northern Film and Media/ S&W Films); The Hunters (Lionsgate/Humal Productions). Television credits include: Jerk (Roughcut/Primal - BBC3); Coronation Street (ITV); Casualty (BBC); Holby City (BBC); Doctors (BBC); Atlantis (Little Monster Films/BBC); Inspector George Gently (Company Pictures/BBC); Hollyoaks (Lime Pictures/Ch4); Vera (ITV); Canoe Man (Dragonfly/BBC4); Lewis (ITV); The Bill (Talkback Thames/ITV)). Writing credits include: Hyem (Theatre503/Northern Stage); The Invisible Man (Northern Stage); Yard Tales (The Playground Theatre); Frestonia (St Mary's Drama School). Directing & Producing credits include: Greensboro: A Requiem, Yard Tales (The Playground Theatre); Macbeth, Frestonia, Home, Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Cloud 9 (St Mary's Drama School).

Shobu Kapoor has played a range of characters across Theatre, Television, Film, Radio as well as Voiceover roles in a career spanning over three decades. In addition to upcoming feature film Polite Society (Focus/Working Title), her on screen credits include Bridgerton series 2 (Netflix), Three Little Birds (ITV), We Are Lady Parts (C4), Discovery Of Witches S3 (Sky), DI Ray (ITV), Four Weddings & A Funeral (Hulu), Unforgotten (ITV), Krypton (Syfy/DC), The Cleaner (BBC), Whitstable Pearl (Acorn), The Dark Tower (Amazon Pilot), The Split (BBC), I Hate Suzie (Sky), Bend It Like Beckham, Eastenders and Citizen Khan S1-5 (BBC) to name a few. Her theatre credits include Genesis Inc (Hampstead Theatre), Dinner With Saddam (Menier Chocolate Factory), Lotus Beauty (The Gate Theatre), What Fatima Did (Hampstead Theatre), Yerma (Arcola Theatre) to name a few.

Jeffery Kissoon is an actor, director and drama teacher. He has worked extensively in the British Theatre, Film and Radio, working with the Royal National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company and with leading directors such as Peter Brook, Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn, Nicholas Hytner, Robert Lapage, Calixto Bieto and Janet Suzman. He trained at Canley College, Warwick University and began his acting career playing "Malcolm" in Peter Coe's production of The Black Macbeth at the Roundhouse Theatre, London. Directing includes: Hamlet, The Meeting/Vision Of Youth, Danny And The Deep Blue Sea (Nubian Nights); Knock Down Ginger, Where The Flowers Grow, Naked Soldiers (Warehouse Theatre); Ave Africa (Double Edge Theatre). Theatre includes: In The Jungle Of Cities (Arcola); Julius Caesar, Measure For Measure, As You Like It, Love's Labours Lost, The Jail Diary Of Albe Sachs, The Tempest (RSC); Waiting For Godot (WYP/Talawa); Antony And Cleopatra (Liverpool Everyman); The Mahabharata, Hamlet (Peter Brook, World Tour); Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Oedipus The King, Caucasian Chalk Circle (RNT/ Complicite); Merchant Of Venice, Oedipus The King, Oedipus Colonus, The Coup, Fix Up (RNT); A Midsummer Night's Dream, Nathan The Wise (Chichester); Life Is A Dream (Edinburgh/BAM); War And Peace (Shared Experience); Orestes (Tricycle/ Tour); Tamburlaine The Great (Bristol/Barbican); The Tempest, Macbeth, Othello, The Merchant Of Venice, The Sign In Sidney Brutstein's Window, The Tempest, The Way Of The World (Birmingham Rep); Othello, Last Missionary (Bristol); Antony & Cleopatra (Talawa/Liverpool/Bloomsbury); Dr Faustus (Royal Exchange); The Free State (Tour); Tamburlaine (Citizens/Edinburgh); Barbarians (Greenwich); The Great And Small, Marino Faliero, Macbeth, Amazonia (Young Vic); Kingdom Of Earth (English Speaking Theatre Vienna); Life Is A Dream (Lyceum/Barbican/NY); King Lear (Derby Playhouse); Cheapside, The Island, The Meeting, The Dove (Warehouse Theatre); Resurrection Lichfield (Garrick); An African Cargo (Nitro); The Archbishop And The Antichrist (Soho Theatre); City Sugar (Bush Theatre); Glorious Things, In The Solitude Of Cotton Fields (Almeida); Marat Sade, Oroonoko, Threepenny Opera (Citizens Theatre); Reflections (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Streamers (Liverpool Playhouse); The Gods Are Not To Blame (Talawa). Film includes: The Nativity Story, Dirty Pretty Things, The Tragedy Of Hamlet (Peter Brook), Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh), Only Love, Underbelly, Ham & The Piper, Crossing Bridges, Julius Caesar, The Mahabharata. Television includes: Atlantis, Holby City, Spooks, Doctors, Casualty, Kiss Of Death, Eastenders, Brothers And Sisters, Miss Marple, Grease Monkeys, Space: 1999, Beryl's Lot, Dalziel And Pascoe, Very Like A Whale, Cargo Kings, Grange Hill, Joe And Mary, Rocky Marciano Is Dead, The Bill, The Young Indiana Jones, Z Cars. Radio includes: Tamburlaine: The Shadow Of God, Rudy's Rare Records (4 Series), Atonement, The Ministry Of Performing Arts, Gone, Dionysos, The City Speaks: Broken Chain (BBC).

Martina Laird's stage work includes The Royal Shakespeare Company, the Globe and Donmar Warehouse Shakespeare Trilogy. She has most recently been seen on ITV's Unforgotten and will soon be seen in the Disney live animation of The Little Mermaid. Theatre includes: The Animal Kingdom (Hampstead); 15 Heroines (Lyric); King Hedley II, Bad Blood Blues (Theatre Royal Stratford East); All's Well That Ends Well, Romeo and Juliet (Globe); Shebeen (Nottingham Playhouse); Coriolanus, Troilus and Cressida, Three Hours After Marriage, The White Devil (RSC); Othello, Julius Caesar, Henry IV, The Tempest (Donmar); Who Cares, Breath Boom (Royal Court); Hopelessly Devoted (Birmingham Rep); Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, Five Wives Of Maurice Pinder (National); All The Little Things We Crushed (Almeida). Television includes: Dreaming Whilst Black, Dreamland; Unforgotten; Shakespeare and Hathaway; The Bay; Eastenders; Jericho; The Dumping Ground; Coronation Street; London's Burning; Doctors; Missing; My Family; Shameless; Free Agents; Monday Monday; Casualty; The Bill; and Jonathan Creek, The Knock. Feature films include: The Little Mermaid; Boxing Day; Summerland; Fedz; Stud Life; Blitz; Forget Me Not; and Deadmeat. Short films include: Still We Thrive; and Padlock.

Tré Medley trained at Mountview Academy, has recently performed in the Changeling Theatre's Othello and The Important Of Being Earnest, and is most known for his work on The Secret Love Life Of Ophelia. Tré graduated from Mountview in 2020. He grew up in North London and trained with Intermission Youth between 2010-2016. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes Shakespeare Walks and Shakespeare in the Abbey (2019). Other theatre credits include: Othello and The Importance Of Being Earnest (Changeling Theatre Tour); The Secret Love Life Of Ophelia (Greenwich Theatre). Screen credits include: Sink (BBD Productions) and Party (BBC Writer's Room).

Sara Mokonen trained at Intermission Youth's theatre. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: Hamlet, As You Like it, The Taming Of The Shrew. Other theatre includes: The Jungle (Playhouse Theatre West End); Your Vote Will Not Count (Tamasha Theatre); Oneness (Blue Elephant Theatre); Who's Culture (RSC); The Comedy Of Errors, Romeo and Juliet (Intermission Youth). Television includes: Casualty (BBC), Better Things (BBC, FX). Film includes: Sweetness In The Belly (Parallel Films).

Yung Đ. Nguyễn trained at Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama. This is his first professional stage credit.

Destiny Tola Onisilé trained at Intermission Youth's theatre. Theatre credits include Excluded (Intermission Youth), Shakespeare Within The Abbey and Shakespeare's Walks (Shakespeare's Globe). TV Credits include The Dumping Ground (BBC), The War Of The Worlds (FX/ Disney+).

Raphael Sowele recently shot a series regular role in Grime Kids for the BBC and Mammoth Screen. Stage credits include: The Merchant Of Venice at the Almeida for Rupert Goold, Measure For Measure at the Young Vic for Joe Hill-Gibbons and Macbeth at the Barbican for Polly Findlay. Television includes: Jamie Demetriou's Netflix comedy special Watch A Whole Lifetime, The Great alongside Nicholas Hoult and Elle Fanning and Hugo Blick's Black Earth Rising alongside John Goodman and Michaela Coel. Film includes: Starred Up opposite Jack O'Connell, Netflix film Munich: The Edge Of War opposite George MacKay and Jeremy Irons & Apartment 7A for Paramount opposite Julia Garner.

Jessica Warbeck trained at Rose Bruford College. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: Othello and Much Ado About Nothing. Other theatre includes: One Man, Two Guvnors (Eastbourne Theatres); Oliver Twist (European Tour); East Of The Sun (Quater To); Don't Dress For Dinner (B.O.A.T) and Butterflies In The Dust (Jermyn Street Theatre). Film credits include: Henry IV (Globe) and The Man In The Hat (Open Palm Films). Television credits include: Young Wallander (Netflix).

Ashley Zhangazha trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes Measure for Measure. Ashley recently starred as Don Pedro in The National Theatre's production of Much Ado About Nothing opposite Katherine Parkinson. He played the lead role of Sky Masterson in the Royal Exchange's hit production of Guys & Dolls, for which he won Best Performance in a Musical at the UK Theatre Awards. Further awards include the Ian Charleson award 1st Prize for his work in Macbeth at Sheffield Crucible. Other theatre credits include Changing Destiny and Ah Wilderness at the Young Vic; Ike Turner in the West End production of Tina The Musical; the title role in Pericles and Danton's Death at The National Theatre; Death Of A Salesman and Hamlet at the Royal Exchange; Human Animals, Belong and truth and reconciliation at the Royal Court; A Raisin In The Sun at Sheffield Crucible; Henry V for the Michael Grandage Company (West End); Fences (Theatre Royal Bath/West End); Terror at the Lyric Hammersmith; The Country Wife at Chichester Festival Theatre; The Lottery Of Love at the Orange Tree and Richard II and King Lear at The Donmar Warehouse. TV Credits include: The Undeclared War (Channel 4), Manhunt S2 (ITV/Buffalo Pictures), Victoria II (Mammoth Screen), Doctors (BBC), Humans (Channel 4) and Ordinary Lies (BBC 1).

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