Shakespeare's Globe Brings HAMLET to Folger Theatre This Weekend

The London-based Shakespeare's Globe will bring their global touring production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet to Folger Theatre for three performances only this weekend, July 25 and 26, 2014, making it the only east coast stop for the company in the United States. Directed by Dominic Dromgoole and Bill Buckhurst, the production is a fresh, pared-down version of the classic tragedy of deferred revenge.

On April 23, 2014 -- the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth -- Shakespeare's Globe embarked on their 2-year global tour of Hamlet, taking the production to every country in the world. The small company of twelve actors is travelling the globe by boat, train, car, bus, and airplane across seven continents, performing in a wide range of unique and atmospheric venues. Shakespeare's Globe made their Washington, DC debut in September 2012 at Folger Theatre in an earlier touring production of Hamlet.

Widely considered to be Shakespeare's masterpiece, Hamlet encompasses political intrigue and sexual obsession, philosophical reflection and violent action, tragic depth and wild humor. Hamlet -- after learning of the death of his father, the king of Denmark -- comes home to find his uncle married to his mother and installed on the throne. At night, the ghost of the former king demands that Hamlet avenge his "foul and most unnatural murder."

The role of Hamlet will be shared by Ladi Emeruwa and Naeem Hayat throughout the tour. All other characters will be played in rotation by Keith Bartlett, John Dougall, Miranda Foster, Phoebe Fildes, Beruce Khan, Tom Lawrence (nominated for an Outstanding Supporting Performer Helen Hayes Award in Hamlet, 2012), Jennifer Leong, Rawiri Paratene, Matthew Romain, and Amanda Wilkin.

The creative team includes Tony Award nominee Jonathan Fensom (designer), Bill Barclay (musical director and composer), Laura Forrest-Hay (composer), Siân Williams (choreographer), and Kevin McCurdy (fight director).

The ongoing collaboration between Shakespeare's Globe and the Folger, which began in 2012, continues after the Globe-to-Globe production of Hamlet. In September 2014, Shakespeare's Globe will return to the Folger for a limited run of their touring production of Shakespeare's King Lear, starring renowned classical actor Joseph Marcell. In March 2015, Folger Consort, the early music ensemble in residence, will bring its musical and theatrical adaptation of The Merchant of Venice, featuring Sir Derek Jacobi, Richard Clifford, and the Gabrieli Consort, to London for two performances at The Globe's new candlelit indoor theater, the Wanamaker Playhouse.

The Globe-to-Globe touring production of Hamlet plays at Folger Theatre for 3 performances on July 25 & 26, 2014. Tickets are $50 - $85. Lower-priced tickets for partial view seating and standing room are also available. Discounts for students, seniors, military, and educators may be purchased at the Folger Theatre Box Office at 202.544.7077 or online at www.folger.edu/theatre (subject to availability).

THE CAST:

Keith Barlett (Claudius/Polonius) -- Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: A New World and The Complete Bible Reading. Other theatre includes: The Histories Cycle, The Winter's Tale, Pericles, The Tempest (RSC); the European premiere of The Big Meal (Bath Theatre Royal); title roles in Macbeth and Philoctetes (Cheek by Jowl); Glengarry Glen Ross, The Front Page, Lie of the Mind (Donmar Warehouse); The Crucible, Murmuring Judges, Richard III, Mary Stuart, Piano by Trevor Griffiths (National Theatre); The Arab Israeli Cookbook (Gate Theatre, London); The Postman Always Rings Twice (Playhouse) and Wicked (played Wizard of Oz). Keith has also performed seasons at Chichester, Manchester, Exeter, Scarborough, Northampton and Sheffield. Film: Jack and Sarah, Truly Madly Deeply, The Kovak Box, The Ghost in the Machine and Private Peaceful. Television: Bleak House, The Antiques Rogue Show, Shine on Harvey Moon, Kavanagh QC, In the Name of Love, Disaster, Future Shock, New Tricks and Between the Lines.

John Dougall (Claudius/Polonius) -- trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: The Knight of the Burning Pestle, The Duchess of Malfi, Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, Measure for Measure, Coriolanus, Under the Black Flag and The Winter's Tale (tour). Other theatre includes: Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew, Henry V, The Winter's Tale, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Propeller), Hamlet, Love in a Wood, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Measure for Measure, The Devil is an Ass, The Cherry Orchard, Faust, The Winter's Tale, The Crucible (RSC); Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Henry V, Henry VI Parts 1, 2 & 3, Richard III, The Winter's Tale, Coriolanus, Romeo and Juliet (The English Shakespeare Company); Another Country (Queen's Theatre); The Cherry Orchard (Aldwych Theatre); Saint Joan (Strand Theatre); Shadow of a Gunman, John Bull's Other Island (Tricycle Theatre); The White Devil (Menier Chocolate Factor); Dr Faustus (Greenwich Theatre); Hayfever, Rookery Nook, The Cherry Orchard (Oxford Stage Company); Private Lives (Ipswich); Of Mice and Men (Birmingham Reparatory Theatre); Present Laughter (Theatre Royal, Bath/Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); Romeo and Juliet (Nottingham Theatre Royal); Macbeth (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); Six Characters in Search of an Author (National Theatre of Scotland); All My Sons (Curve Theatre, Leicester); The Crucible (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); Arcadia (Royal and Derngate, Northampton); The Comedy of Errors and Translations (Lyric Theatre, Belfast). Television: Monarch of the Glen, Waking the Dead, He Knew He Was Right, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Negotiator, As Time Goes By, Dunrulin, Taggart, Holby City, The Bill, Macbeth and Measure for Measure. Radio: over 50 drama productions for BBC Radio including Dracula, Dr Zhivago, Fortunes of War, Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Arcadia, The Silver Fox, Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters, The Lamplighter and Real Recordings in a Fictional City (Prix D'Italia).

Ladi Emeruwa (Hamlet) -- trained at LAMDA. Theatre includes: Julius Caesar, Festen, Racing Demon, Habeas Corpus, The Way of the World and The Insatiate Countess (LAMDA). Film: Hearts and Minds, O and Monday.

Phoebe Fildes (Ophelia/Gertrude/Horatio/Rosencrantz/Guildenstern) -- trained at the University of Bristol and Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Theatre includes: Once the Musical (Phoenix Theatre); Pericles (Wickham Theatre); The House of Bernarda Alba (Mountview) and Edges (In Short Productions).

Miranda Foster (Gertrude/Second Player/Player Queen/Second Gravedigger) -- trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: Hamlet (Tour), The God of Soho, Romeo and Juliet and The Bible. Other theatre includes: The Talented Mr. Ripley (Royal and Derngate, Northampton); Madagascar (Theatre503); Shraddha (Soho Theatre); Greenwash, The Marrying of Ann Leete, King Cromwell, Summer Again (Orange Tree Theatre); Born in the Gardens (Rose Theatre Kingston/Royal); Shadow Language (Theatre503); Festen (UK Tour); The Memory of Water (Watford Palace Theatre); The Lucky Ones (Hampstead Theatre); Pera Palas (The Gate Theatre, London/National Theatre); Love You Too (Bush Theatre); The People Downstairs (Young Vic); Hamlet, As You Like It (AFTLS USA tour); Blithe Spirit (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Our Country's Good, A Doll's House (Leicester Haymarket); The Cherry Orchard (Aldwych Theatre); Gilgamesh, Schism in England, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Neaptide, The Women, The Futurists, Pravda, The Government Inspector, Animal Farm, The Spanish Tragedy, Strider: The Story of a Horse and The Fawn (National Theatre). Television: The Trial of Gemma Lang; Rosemary and Thyme, Dream Team, Where the Heart Is, The Bill, The Knock; Sharman, The Turnaround; Doctors, Holby, Brotherly Love, Casualty, Thin Ice, The Contractor, Cockles and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Film: Beggar's Belief.

Naeem Hayat (Hamlet) -- trained at RADA. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: Richard III (Sam Wanamaker Festival, 2013). Other theatre includes: Faster Higher Stronger Straighter (Dominion Studio); King Lear, Love for Love, Cockroach, Yerma and The Grace of Mary Traverse (RADA). Film: Duperie.

Beruce Khan (Horatio/Captain/Laertes/Barnardo/Guildenstern/Lucianus/Rosencrantz/Marcellus/Fortinbras/Osric) -- trained at RADA. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: Romeo & Juliet (Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank) and Henry V. Other theatre includes: The Madness of George III (West End); The History Boys (UK No.1 Tour) and The Black Album (National Theatre). Television: PBS: Shakespeare Uncovered.

Tom Lawrence (Horatio/Captain/Laertes/Barnardo/Guildenstern/Lucianus/Rosencrantz/Marcellus/Fortinbras/Osric) -- trained at RADA. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: Blue Stockings, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet (USA Tour - Helen Hayes Outstanding Supporting Actor Award Nomination) and Hamlet (UK Tour). Other theatre includes: Summer & Smoke (Apollo Theatre); When We Are Married (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Liverpool Playhouse); Oliver Twist (Library Theatre, Manchester); House & Garden (Salisbury Playhouse); Death in Venice (Snape Maltings/Bregenz Festpielhaus); Biloxi Blues (Vanburgh Theatre) and Forest Sale (Royal Opera House). Tom is a founding member of Punchdrunk, with whom he as co-devised and performed in over a dozen site-specific productions, including The Masque of the Red Death (South Bank Show Best Theatre Award Nomination), Woyzeck, The House of Oedipus, The Cherry Orchard, The Black Diamond and The Firebird Ball. Film: The Trench, A Summer Hamlet, Age of Heroes, Christ's Dog, Isaac and Jack and Jill. Television: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, Prefaces to Shakespeare: Hamlet, Silent Witness, Inspector Lynley, Doctors (BBC); Babylon, The Rating Game and Ingham Investigates (Channel 4). Radio: Night of the Hunter (Sony Ward Winner); A Charles Paris Mystery, Doctor Who, Made in China, Nixon of Dock Green and Poetry Please. Recordings: All Quiet on the Western Front, Wild Abandon, Sharp Sheep (Audiofile Award 2006) and The Collected Works of John Betjeman.

Jennifer Leong (Ophelia/Horatio/Rosencrantz/Guildenstern) -- trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (London) and the University of Cambridge. Theatre includes: Actors' Centre Showcase (Tristan Bates Theatre). Television: Waitrose Commercial. The Globe to Globe Hamlet will be Jennifer's professional stage debut.

Rãwiri Paratene (Polonius/Claudius) -- trained at the New Zealand Drama School. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: King Lear (Tour); Troilus and Cressida, Helen, Romeo and Juliet and The International Actors Fellowship. Other theatre includes: Kind Lear, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, Henry V, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet. Film: Whalerider, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted and Insatiable Moo. Television: Dead Certs (writer/actor); Erua (writer), Playschool and Shortland St.

Matthew Romain (Laertes/Horatio/Rosencrantz/Guildenstern) -- trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: King Lear and Hamlet. Theatre includes: Twelfth Night (Orange Tree); The Recruiting Officer (Donmar Warehouse); Privates on Parade, See How They Run, Trelawny of the 'Wells', My Fair Lady (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Onassis (Novello Theatre/Derby Theatre) and The Shape of Things (Arts Theatre).

Amanda Wilkin (Ophelia/Gertrude/Horatio/Rosencrantz/Guildenstern) -- trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: Gabriel and The Tempest. Other theatre includes: Devoted (Paines Plough & Birmingham Repertory Theatre), Arabian Nights (Watermill Theatre); The Bacchae, Blood Wedding (Royal and Derngate Northampton); Marat/Sade and A Midsummer Night's Dream (RSC); Stamping, Shouting and Singing Home (Nuffield Theatre); The Twists (The Dukes Lancaster); Il Miracolo and Song From a Forgotten City (ELAN Wales). Television: Gavin and Stacey (BBC3 and Baby Cow Productions).

THE CREATIVE TEAM:

Dominic Dromgoole (Director) -- is the Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe. Previous work at the Globe includes: Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra in 2006, Love's Labour's Lost in 2007 and King Lear in 2008. In 2009, he directed Romeo and Juliet and A New World by Trevor Griffiths and also remounted Love's Labour's Lost, which then toured the USA. For the 2010 Kings and Rogues season he directed Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. In 2011 he directed Hamlet for the Globe's small-scale tours and in 2012 directed Henry V. Last year he directed A Midsummer Night's Dream and Gabriel. This year he directed the opening show in the inaugural season in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, The Duchess of Malfi. He was Artistic Director of the Oxford Stage Company, 1999-2005, and of the Bush Theatre, 1990-6, and Director of New Plays for the Peter Hall Company, 1996-7. He has also directed at the Tricycle Theatre, in the West-End, and in America, Romania and Ireland. Dominic has written two books, The Full Room (2001) and Will & Me (2006).

Bill Buckhurst (director) -- Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: King Lear, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare's Globe/UAE tour, 'Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank'). Other directing credits include: A Midsummer Night's Dream; Barbarians, Tinderbox (Tooting Arts Club); Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Stafford Festival Shakespeare); Riff Raff (Arcola Theatre);The Vegemite Tales (West End/Riverside Studios); Normal (The Union); Penetrator and The Night Before Christmas (Theatre503). As assistant director, his credits include: Get Santa! and Aunt Dan and Lemon (Royal Court Theatre). As an actor, his theatre credits include: seasons at RSC, Royal Court, Shakespeare's Globe, Propeller, Chichester, Northampton and Oxford Stage Company. His film and television credits include: Skyfall, World War Z, New Tricks, Spooks, Collision, Murphy's Law, EastEnders, Coronation Street, Holby, Bad Girls and As If.

Jonathan Fensom (designer) -- Previous work for Shakespeare's Globe includes: The Duchess of Malfi, Gabriel, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry V, The Globe Mysteries, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, King Lear and Love's Labour's Lost. Other theatre includes: The American Plan (Bath/London); The Accrington Pals (Royal Exchange, Manchester); The Thrill of Love (St James Theatre); Our Boys (West End); Goat (The Traverse Theatre); Six Degrees of Separation (The Old Vic); Brighton Beach Memoirs (Palace Theatre, Watford); Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Gaiety Theatre Dublin); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Canada); Rain Man, Some Girls, Twelfth Night, Smaller, What the Butler Saw, East (West End); Swan Lake (San Francisco Ballet); Journey's End (West End/Broadway); The American Plan, Pygmalion (New York); The Homecoming, Big White Fog, Becky Shaw (Almeida Theatre); Happy Now?, The Mentalists, Burn/Citizenship/Chatroom (National Theatre); In the Club, Born Bad, In Arabia We'd All Be Kings, Abigail's Party, What the Butler Saw (Hampstead Theatre); Duck, Talking to Terrorists, The Sugar Syndrome (Royal Court Theatre); Kindertransport, Breakfast with Emma (Shared Experience); The Tempest (Tron Theatre); Crown Matrimonial (Guildford/Tour); The Faith Healer (The Gate, Dublin/Broadway); God of Hell (Donmar Warehouse); National Anthems (The Old Vic); M.A.D., Little Baby Nothing (Bush Theatre); Be My Baby (Soho Theatre); Small Family Business, Little Shop of Horrors (West Yorkshire Playhouse); My Night With Reg, Dealer's Choice (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); After the Dance, Candide, Hay Fever (Oxford Stage Company); So Long Life (Theatre Royal Bath) and Wozzeck (Birmingham Opera/European tour). Jonathan was Associate Designer on Disney's The Lion King, which premiered at the New Amsterdam Theatre on Broadway and has subsequently opened worldwide. His set design for Journey's End was nominated for a Tony Award in 2007. The production won the Tony Award for Best Revival.

Bill Barclay (Composer/Music Director) -- American composer, actor and multi-instrumentalist, Bill is the Director of Music at Shakespeare's Globe and has provided music composition or direction in several Globe productions since 2011. Prior to his time at the Globe, Bill has been a company member of The Mercury Theatre in Colchester and has held 10-year engagements with both the Shakespeare & Company in Lenox MA and The Actors' Shakespeare Project in Boston as a composer, actor, sound designer and director. His musical Call of the Wild has toured in the US and his performance Muse on Fire: Shakespeare and The Music of the Spheres has been presented at over a dozen venues across the US and the UK. This year, he directed and composed music for the first adaptation of Athens ever mounted in the Boston area and directed his new adaptation of The Magic Flute with The Boston Symphony Orchestra. The latter was the latest in a series of collaborations with the BSO, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center, the premier classical music festival in the US. He is a past winner of the Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship, the largest grant for actors in America.

Laura Forrest-Hay (Composer) -- theatre credits include: The Rivals (Red-Handed/Southwark Playhouse); Sive (Best Production ITTA 2003), Sharon's Grave (Druid Theatre); Portia Coughlin, Heavenly Bodies (Best Production ITTA 2005), Abbey 100 Celebration, Iphigenia at Aulis, Famine, Treehouses, Amazing Grace (Abbey Theatre); Words of Advice for Young People, The Taming of the Shrew (Rough Magic Theatre Co); The Grapes of Wrath, Hard Times (Storytellers); The Carnival King, The Nun's Wood (Fishamble); Knives in Hens, Riders to the Sea, Wild Harvest (Fada Theatre); Translations (An Grianan); The Dead School (Manas); Belfry (Livin' Dred Theatre); Anna Christie (Focus); The Crack and the Whip, An Ideal Husband (Galloglass); Licking the Marmalade Spoon (Baois); The Playboy of the Western World (Redgrave Theatre) and Frankenstein's Mothers (Foursight Theatre). Television and film: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Moving Still/C4 -- BAFTA for Best Children's Animation); Countess Cathleen (Crimson Films/Patrick Bergin); Filleann an Feall, Muca le Maidi, Tri Sceal (TG4); Bodyblow (Schipa Films); Oxygen (Welcome Home Pictures/Peter Sheridan); The Poet, the Shopkeeper and Babu, Farmleigh (RTE) and Rowlandson Rides Again (Irish Film Board).

Siân Williams (Choreographer) -- trained at the London College of Dance and Drama. She founded The Kosh dance theatre company with Michael Merwitzer. Siân has worked as choreographer for Shakespeare's Globe since 1999. She has been Movement Director for the RSC, and is a member of The Factory Theatre Company. Choreography includes: Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, The Mouse and His Child, The Merchant of Venice (RSC); Richard III, Twelfth Night (Sonia Friedman Productions/Shakespeare's Globe); Mother F (Articulate Elbow); Flashmob Dance (Mark Rylance's Pop-Up Shakespeare); The Glass Slipper, Oh! What a Lovely War (Northern Stage); Snow Queen (The Rose Theatre, Kingston); You Can't Take It With You (Royal Exchange, Manchester); Café Chaos, The Storeroom (The Kosh); Adolph Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (Rho Delta); The Magic Flute and The Rake's Progress (Royal College of Music). Direction includes: productions for The Kosh and The Handsomest Drowned Man (Circus Space). Performing includes: All of The Kosh productions, The Odyssey (The Factor); the role of Grisette in La Traviata (Opera North) and Animal Crackers (Royal Exchange, Manchester West End transfer).

Folger Theatre is the centerpiece of Folger Shakespeare Library's programs for the public and is recognized for dynamic performances in the 250-seat Elizabethan-styled theatre, specializing in innovative stagings of works by Shakespeare, other classical work, and new plays inspired by these traditions. Since 1991, Folger Theatre has been honored by the Helen Hayes Awards with 21 awards and 125 nominations for excellence in acting, direction, design, and production-including the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Resident Play in 2011 for Hamlet (a year in which all three of Folger's theatrical productions were nominated in that category). In September 2012, Folger Theatre brought from London Shakespeare's Globe's Hamlet for the company's first Washington appearance. Most recently, Folger Theatre was the recipient of the 2013 Helen Hayes Award for "Outstanding Resident Play" for its production of The Taming of the Shrew. Janet Alexander Griffin is the Artistic Producer of Folger Theatre and Director of Public Programs which includes the Folger's music and literary series.

Folger Shakespeare Library is a renowned center for scholarship, learning, culture, and the arts. Home to the world's largest Shakespeare collection and a primary repository for research material from the early modern period (1500-1750), Folger Shakespeare Library is an internationally recognized research library offering advanced scholarly programs in the humanities; a national leader in how Shakespeare is taught in grades K-12; and an award-winning producer of cultural and arts programs -- theatre, music, poetry, exhibits, lectures, and family programs. A gift to the American people from industrialist Henry Clay Folger, Folger Shakespeare Library-located one block east of the U.S. Capitol -- opened in 1932 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Learn more at www.folger.edu.

Shakespeare's Globe has become one of the most popular visitor destinations in the UK, at the heart of the regeneration of London's Bankside. Shakespeare's Globe is a charity and continues to operate without annual government funding.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director, Dominic Dromgoole, the theatre season plays in repertory from April to October annually, and has gained an international reputation for performance excellence. Globe Education, directed by Patrick Spottiswoode, is one of the largest arts education departments in the country, and shares its approaches to the teaching of Shakespeare with over 100,000 students a year. Shakespeare's Globe Tour and Exhibition is open all year round and is the world's only permanent exhibition dedicated to Shakespeare's theatrical career.

Other on-site facilities include the Swan Bar and Brassiere and private entertaining rooms, with stunning views over the River Thames. The Globe Shop sells a wide range of gifts and books, aimed to increase the enjoyment and understanding of Shakespeare.

For more information on the Globe-to-Globe tour of Hamlet, visit globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/.