As celebrations continue for the 400th Anniversary of the First Folio across 2023, Shakespeare’s Globe returns 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).
