Geraldine James makes her RSC debut to play Rosalind in director Omar Elerian’s new production of As You Like It which runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon between 17 June – 5 August.
In Elerian’s playful and provocative new take on the play, a company of veteran actors – many of whom are likely to have a long and close association with the RSC – will come together to perform one of Shakespeare’s most joyous tales. On a stage transformed into a simple rehearsal room, the actors will gather to conjure the memory of a long gone show, celebrating the magic of theatre and its unique power to make our imagination soar. The extraordinary cast will play every role in this ode to young love, old age, and theatre itself.
Geraldine’s most recent credits include The Beast Must Die (Britbox), Back to Life (BBC1/Showtime) and Anne with an E (Netflix), for which she won the 2019 Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series. Geraldine will next be seen in the television series Silo (Apple TV) and Steven Knight’s This Town (BBC).
Geraldine’s extensive film credits include 45 Years, Benediction, Beast, Daphne (for which she was nominated for an Evening Standard British Film Award), Downton Abbey, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Made in Dagenham, Calendar Girls, Gandhi and Sir Peter Hall’s She’s Been Away, for which she won the Coppa Volpi Award for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival.
She has been BAFTA-nominated four times for her television performances, in Dummy (for which she also won a Critics’ Association Award for Best Actress), The Jewel in The Crown, Band of Gold and Sins. Other TV credits include Utopia, The Five, Black Work, Legacy, 13 Steps Down, Little Britain and Blott on the Landscape.
Geraldine won a Drama Desk Award, and was nominated for a Tony Award, for her performance as Portia in The Merchant of Venice, opposite Dustin Hoffman, and she also starred on Broadway as Gertrude in Michael Grandage’s production of Hamlet, with Jude Law. Her other UK theatre credits include Lawrence After Arabia (Hampstead Theatre), 13 (National Theatre), The Seagull (Arcola Theatre), Victory (Arcola Theatre), The UN Inspector (National Theatre), and Sir Peter Hall’s productions of Lysistrata (Old Vic and West End) and Cymbeline (National Theatre).
Omar Elerian is Olivier award-nominated director, writer and dramaturg. As You Like It will be his first production for the RSC. A graduate of the Lecoq International Theatre School, Paris, Omar was the resident Associate Director at the Bush Theatre from 2012-2019, where he commissioned and directed some of the theatre’s most successful shows. As a sole director for the Bush Theatre, his credits include smash-hit Misty by Arinzé Kene (Bush, West End), NASSIM by Nassim Soleimanpour (Bush Theatre, Traverse Theatre and a world tour), Going Through by Estelle Savasta and Islands by Caroline Horton.
In 2022, Omar translated and directed the Olivier Award-winning Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni, co-founders of pioneering theatre company Complicité, in a new revival of Eugène Ionesco’s tragic farce; The Chairs (Almeida), a show described by The Guardian as “a gloriously fizzy cocktail of slapstick, physical theatre and silliness”.
Talking about the production, Omar said: “I am really excited about starting rehearsals on this intriguing project, which will explore our relation to love, freedom, and the passing of time. I adore working with actors, so to be able to draw on the talent, craft and experience of such exquisite performers such as Geraldine James is a true privilege.”
Joining Omar on the creative team are Ana Inés Jabares Pita (Designer), Jackie Shemesh (Lighting) and Elena Peña (Sound). Full casting will be announced in late April/early May.
