Guildford Shakespeare Company has announced the full cast and creative team for its 2026 summer season, marking the company’s 20th anniversary with a major open-air co-production alongside Orange Tree Theatre.
Running from 1 to 25 July 2026 at Braboeuf Manor in Guildford, the season brings together Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing as a single, interconnected theatrical experience.
The productions will then transfer to the gardens of Thomas’s College in Richmond from 31 July to 22 August, presented as Orange Tree Theatre on the Hill.
Artistic Director of Orange Tree Theatre Tom Littler will direct both plays, staging them as a sweeping narrative set across two summers, 1939 and 1945, with the same ensemble cast performing both works.
Littler said: “I am delighted to help celebrate the 20th birthday of one of my favourite theatre companies, Guildford Shakespeare Company. I loved directing these two great comedies a decade ago, and I’m excited by the opportunity to return to them and, this time, to tie them together as a rich and sweeping narrative that sees love gained, lost, and, against the odds, won again. It’s a treat to be back in Guildford, and to share these plays with audiences in London too – in the Orange Tree’s first visit to the gardens of Thomas’s College on Richmond Hill.”
The single ensemble cast allows audiences to follow the same characters as their stories unfold across both plays.
The cast includes Phoebe Pryce and James Sheldon as Beatrice and Benedick, Joëlle Brabban as Hero, Sally Cheng as Margaret, Jeremy Lloyd as Costard, Chirag Benedict Lobo as Claudio, Owen Oakeshott as the Prince of Navarre, with Guildford Shakespeare Company co-founders Sarah Gobran and Matt Pinches appearing as Leonata and Longaville.
Matthew Floyd Jones will compose the music for the production, collaborating again with the company following previous critically acclaimed work.
For Guildford Shakespeare Company, the revival of Much Ado About Nothing is particularly significant, as it was the first production the company staged in 2006.
GSC co-founder Matt Pinches commented: “The prospect of staging these two beloved comedies and returning to Braboeuf Manor is incredibly exciting for our 20th Anniversary. As the first show we produced, Much Ado will always hold a special place in our hearts, and to pair it so sensitively as Tom Littler has done with Love’s Labour’s Lost is something very special. Beautifully staged Shakespeare, full of feel-good factor fun in an idyllic setting… what better way to spend a summer evening?”
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
