The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has today announced casting for its forthcoming production of All’s Well That Ends Well, which runs between 16 August – 8 October 2022 in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The production of Shakespeare’s enduring dark comedy – exploring themes of romantic fantasy, toxic masculinity and consent – will be directed by Blanche McIntyre, whose most recent RSC credits include Titus Andronicus (2017) and The Two Noble Kinsmen (2016). It will play in repertoire with Richard III, directed by Gregory Doran, with a number of the cast appearing in both productions.
Rosie Sheehy, who last performed at the RSC in 2019 in the title role in King John, plays Helena. She will also appear as Anne in Richard III. Rosie’s other theatre credits include Oleanna (Bath Theatre Royal and The Arts Theatre West End), Anna X (The Vaults), The Wolves (Theatre Royal Stratford East), The Whale (Theatre Royal Bath), Uncle Vanya (Theatre Clwyd/Sheffield Theatres), Escape the Scaffold (Theatre 503), Strife (Chichester Festival Theatre), Bird (Royal Exchange Manchester), The Hairy Ape (The Old Vic) and Chicken (Paines Plough).
Claire Benedict plays The Countess. Claire’s previous RSC credits include The Canterbury Tales, Tamburlaine the Great, Antony and Cleopatra, The Odyssey and Eastward Ho. Claire will also take on the role of The Duchess of York in Richard III.
Fresh from making his RSC debut as Somerset in Henry VI: Rebellion and Wars of the Roses, Benjamin Westerby plays Bertram. Benjamin’s other theatre credits include: Tom, Dick and Harry (New Vic), and, whilst training at RADA: The Seagull, As You Like It, The Winter’s Tale and Twelfth Night.
Simon Coates and Jamie Wilkes return to the RSC to play Lafeu and Parolles respectively. Simon’s previous productions for the RSC include Coriolanus, The Merry Wives Of Windsor, Loveplay, Luminosity, The Taming Of The Shrew and The Comedy Of Errors. Jamie’s previous RSC credits include Henry VI Part I, The Two Noble Kinsmen, The Rover, Oppenheimer, The Shoemaker’s Holiday, Wendy & Peter Pan. In Richard III, Simon plays Stanley, and Jamie plays Buckingham.
Also returning is Micah Balfour (Older Dumain), who re-joins the company following his role as Don John in Roy Alexander Weise’s afro-futuristic production of Much Ado About Nothing in 2022. Micah plays Hastings in Richard III.
All’s Well That Ends Well is designed by Robert Innes Hopkins, who previously collaborated with Blanche McIntyre on the RSC’s Titus Andronicus (2017).
Blanche McIntyre said: “I am so excited to have the chance to direct Shakespeare’s most modern comedy at the RSC. All’s Well that Ends Well, as full of grief and nostalgia as romance and adventure, with its story of sexual politics, class prejudice and generation gaps, would always have felt contemporary. But the fantasy relationships and fake identities in the play make it a perfect match for our anxious, idealistic, lonely, social-media-addicted age.
“I’m thrilled to be working again with designer Robert Innes Hopkins for our second RSC collaboration. We can promise a fleet footed, inventive, contemporary, colourful production, with one foot in real life and one in the online world. I look forward very much to bringing it to audiences, and I hope they will have a thought provoking as well as entertaining evening.”
Blanche’s production of All’s Well That Ends Well, along with Gregory Doran’s Richard III fittingly mark the final productions, in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, of the Company’s ten-year pledge to produce all of Shakespeare’s collected plays for the stage.
Screen adaptations of both Richard III and All’s Well That Ends Well will be captured, completing a unique collection of Shakespeare on stage, produced by one Company across one decade.
The full cast is: Bruce Alexander (King of France), Laila Alj (First Soldier), Micah Balfour (Older Dumain), Oscar Batterham (Lord/Second Soldier), Claire Benedict (The Countess), Sophie Cartman (Rinaldo/Duke of Florence), Callum Coates (Gentleman), Simon Coates (Lafeu), Matthew Duckett (Lord/First Gentleman), Will Edgerton (Lavache), Jessica Layde (Mariana), Funlola Olufunwa (Widow), Olivia Onyehara (Diana), Ewan Orton (Lord/Escalus), Thom Petty (Second Gentleman), Joeravar Sangha (Lord), Eloise Secker (Younger Dumain), Rosie Sheehy (Helena), Jamie Wilkes (Parolles) and Benjamin Westerby (Bertram).
Joining Blanche and Robert on the creative team are: Richard Howell (Lighting), D.J. Walde (Music), Gregory Clarke (Sound), Douglas O’Connell (Video), Asha Jennings-Grant (Movement and Intimacy) and Kate Waters (Fights).
