Both small troupes of actors will perform on a traditional booth stage — inspired by Elizabethan paintings and etchings — at castles, country houses, churches and theatres around the world.



Marcell, best known for playing Geoffrey in TV's "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," will star in the title role of King Lear, with Rawiri Paratene, star of the Oscar-nominated film "Whale Rider," as Gloucester. The cast of Bill Buckhurst's production is completed by Oliver Boot, Bethan Cullinane, Ruth Everett, Shanaya Rafaat, Matthew Romain and Dickon Tyrrell.

The tour will begin performances at Margate's Theatre Royal April 18, before visiting Turkey, Bristol, Workshop, London's Shakespeare's Globe, Brighton, West Sussex's Elizabethan Parkham House, Salisbury Festival, Austria, Germany, Buxton, Dumfries, Headingham Castle in Essex and Kronborg Castle in Denmark.

The Taming of the Shrew will be performed with an all-female cast, as it was in the play's inaugural performance at the Globe in 2003. Directed by Joe Murphy, artistic director of the new writing company Nabokov, it will begin performances at Portsmouth's City Museum Gardens June 6, then visit Shakespeare's Globe (from June 10-14 and 19-21), then tour to Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex; Malta Festival; Oxford's Bodleian Library, Austria; Suffok's Bungay Castle; Buxton; Ireland's Kilkenny Arts Festival; Wales, Yorkshire; Bury St Edmunds; and Penzance, before concluding with four nights in Hong Kong and ten nights in Singapore – the first foray into Asia for a Globe theatre tour.



For booking information, visit www.shakespearesglobe.com.