The season of 15 plays will also include three world premieres, one of which will feature Alison Balsom (the classic trumpeter who has been twice crowned Female Artist of the Year at the Classic BRIT Awards) and the return of three of of last year's Globe to Globe productions from across the world.
Allam will play the role of Prospero in Jeremy Herrin's new production of The Tempest, beginning performances April 23 prior to an official opening May 2 for a run in rep through Aug. 18. When he last starred at the Globe as Falstaff in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Allan won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor. He is joined by Colin Morgan as Ariel, who recently won the Best Actor in a Drama Award for playing the title role of "Merlin" in the National Television Awards, and Jessie Buckley as Miranda (Buckley was the runner-up in the "I'd Do Anything" TV contest to play Nancy in Oliver!). Herrin previously directed Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe in 2011.
It will be joined in rep by A Midsummer Night's Dream, beginning performances May 24 prior to an official opening May 30 for a run in rep through Oct. 12. Directed by the Globe's artistic director Dominic Dromgoole, it will star Michelle Terry as Titania. Terry won the 2011 Olivier Award for the original production of Tribes at the Royal Court.
Then Eve Best returns to the Globe, where she last appeared as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing in 2011, to make her directorial debut with Macbeth, beginning performances June 22 prior to an official opening July 2 for run in rep through Oct. 13. Joseph Millson, who starred as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing for the RSC, in Rocket to the Moon at the National and Love Never Dies at the Adelphi, will play the title role.
The Globe's three world premieres are Samuel Adamson's Gabriel, Jessica Swale's Blue Stockings and Ché Walker's The Lightning Child. Gabriel, which begins performances July 13 prior to an official opening July 19 for a run in rep through Aug. 18, is directed by Dromgoole and features one of the world's finest trumpet soloists, Alison Balsom, with Trevor Pinnock as musical consultant. Featuring Purcell and Handel played by The English Concert, the play brings to life real and imagined characters including Mary II and Queen Anne, as well as the composers, patrons, musicians and audience of a vibrant and musical seventeenth century London. Blue Stockings, by director turned debut playwright Jessica Swale, begins performances Aug. 24 prior to an official opening Aug. 29, for a run in rep through Oct. 11, and tells the story of the first female students at Cambridge University and the prejudice they faced at the turn of the twentieth century. Globe regular John Dove directs.
The Lightning Child, an anarchic take on Euripides' The Bacchae, begins performances Sept. 14 prior to an official opening Sept. 18, for a run in rep through Oct. 12. It is directed by Matthew Dunster and features songs by Arthur Darvill.
The Globe will also tour Shakespeare's three Henry VI plays — directed by Nick Bagnall under the titles Harry The Sixth, The Houses of York and Lancaster and The True Tragedy Of The Duke Of York, visiting theatres and battlefields across the UK. The tour will begin performances at York's Theatre Royal June 26, and will play at the Globe from July 23-27, Aug. 21-25 and Sept. 3-8. Site-specific performances will be staged at the historic battle sites of the Wars of the Roses - Towton, Tewkesbury, St. Albans and Barnet during its run at the Globe.
Three international productions seen as part of last year's Globe to Globe season will return: the Isango Ensemble from South Africa with Venus and Adonis (April 29-May 4), Georgia's Marjanishvili Theatre in As You Like It (May 6-11) and the Belarus Free Theatre in King Lear (Sept. 23-28). Also visiting will be Footsbarn, returning to the Globe with Indian Tempst (July 29-Aug. 3), a carnival mix of street theatre, circus and mime performed in English, Malayalam, French and Sanskrit.
Public booking opens Feb. 11. To book tickets, contact the box office on 020 7401 9919, or visit www.shakespearesglobe.com for more details.
