The Royal Shakespeare Company and Sam Mendes’ Neal Street Productions have announced casting for the North American premiere tour of Hamnet.
Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling novel, which is also now a major movie by Chloé Zhao starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, the stage play is adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi).
Hamnet will star Kemi-Bo Jacobs (Coriolanus, National Theatre; The Letter for the King, Netflix) as Shakespeare’s wife Agnes, and Rory Alexander (Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Starz; Inland) as William Shakespeare.
The cast also includes Troy Alexander as Bartholomew, Nigel Barrett as John/Will Kempe, Ajani Cabey as Hamnet/Thomas Day, Saffron Dey as Judith, Victoria Elliott as Joan and Elizabeth Condell, Heather Forster as Eliza, Karl Haynes as Ned/Henry Condell and Physician, Ava Hinds Jones as Susanna, Nicki Hobday as Jude and Physician’s Wife, Penny Layden as Mary, Matilda McCarthy as Tilly/Caterina and Will’s Landlady, and Bert Seymour as Burbage/Father John.
The casting news was first announced by Variety.
The tour kicks off at Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s The Yard on 10 February to 8 March 2026, and then plays Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C. from 17 March to 12 April, and American Conservatory Theater’s Toni Rembe Theatre in San Francisco from 22 April to 24 May.
The play is directed by former RSC Artistic Director Erica Whyman, who said in a statement: “I am delighted to be revisiting this extraordinary story for U.S. audiences, and to be making this production with a stellar line-up of performers. Kemi-Bo Jacobs and Rory Alexander are bringing Agnes and William alive on the stage with a luminous intelligence and a profound and shocking understanding of the love and loss that shaped their lives.”
The wider creative team includes set and costume design by Tom Piper, lighting by Prema Mehta, sound by Simon Baker, music by Oğuz Kaplangi, casting by Amy Ball and movement by Ayşe Tashkiran.
Hamnet had its world premiere at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2023, and transferred to the West End’s Garrick Theatre in London. Read a Hamnet reviews round-up here, and take a look at photos here.
The movie version of Hamnet picked up a number of awards at last Sunday’s Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture (Drama), and Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) for Jessie Buckley.
The cast of Hamnet on screen also stars Noah Jupe, who is set to make his West End stage debut in March, alongside Stranger Things star Sadie Sink in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London.
Also see:
Top Shakespeare productions playing in London
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