Eleanor Rhode News

Eleanor Rhode directs a modern version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, starring Mathew Baynton of Horrible Histories and Ghosts fame as Bottom, the fool who becomes one of several victims of fairy mischief. But, in a delightful twist, the star of the show is Puck, who was played by Premi Tamang due to the indisposition of Rosie Sheehy.

The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced casting for its forthcoming production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon between Tuesday 30 January and Saturday 30 March 2024.  

Mathew Baynton, co-creator of Ghosts, is set to play Bottom in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Erica Whyman has announced details of her final season of work as Acting Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) ahead of her stepping down this month. 

Theatre is the purest form of magic. Heightened with anticipation, we step into a darkened space with a sense of wonder and fascination unmatched anywhere else.

Set in Tunisia in 1942, this new play sparkles with wit, but its exploration of the undercurrent of antisemitism that flows through even the most cosmopolitan of societies tells us much about today.

The Almeida Theatre has announced the full cast for the world premiere of Josh Azouz’s Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia. Eleanor Rhode directs Adrian Edmondson, Laura Hanna, Ethan Kai, Pierro Niel-Mee, Yasmin Paige and Daniel Rainford in the production which runs from Saturday 21 August – Saturday 18 September.

Shows will include and breathe..., Hymn, Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Spring Awakening, and The Key Workers Cycle.

With plays by writers who identify as women still struggling to breakout on the larger stages, writers Tori Allen-Martin and Sarah Henley have come together to launch Burn Bright, a new not-for-profit organisation driving positive change for the next generation of women in the creative industry.

Actress Katherine Pearce makes her Royal Shakespeare Company debut this season, featuring in both King John and The Whip, a new play by Juliet Gilkes Romero.

Shakespeare's Globe has announced the summer season 2020 will include Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Antony & Cleopatra, a two-day event 'Globe 4 Globe: Shakespeare and Climate Emergency', a symposium 'Shakespeare and Race', a Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank production of Macbeth with 20,000 free tickets to school children, the return of family festival 'Telling Tales', and a new dramatisation of Ovid's Metamorphoses by our resident writers.

As the 19th Century dawns, politicians of all political persuasions gather in London to abolish the slave trade once and for all. But will the price of freedom turn out to be a multi-billion pound pay off to the slave owners, even though such a bailout could drive the country into economic and political ruin?

This Autumn, the Royal Shakespeare Company stages a story of a nation in turmoil: King John. The timeliness of this play is not lost on director Eleanor Rhode or the company, with the news 'informing [their] conversation pretty much every day as [they] make the show'.

King John's themes are horribly present in today's febrile political climate making it exactly the right time to revive one on Shakespeare's less performed plays.

The Old Vic announces the appointment of Harriet Mackie as Producer at The Old Vic, replacing Georgia Gatti who will leave the organisation later this year.

The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced that singer-songwriter Will Gregory will compose the music for a new production of William Shakespeare's rarely performed tale of a nation in turmoil, King John, directed by Eleanor Rhode.

Casting details are announced for the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of King John and A Museum in Baghdad opening in the Swan Theatre this winter.

Nadia and Daniel are beginning a life together. They have lives with their own families, too, but this relationship is different: meeting in the evening at their new studio flat, they follow the 11 commandments, 'one better than God', which have been printed, are in bold and underlined in Times New Roman font. Clearly, this is special.

HighTide will return to Aldeburgh for their 13th festival with a world premiere and new work from homegrown talent. This fantastic programme will be Steven Atkinson's final Festival as Artistic Director; it illustrates HighTide's commitment to championing new writing as the space for political, contemporary and provocative work, created by new and diverse artists.

After the success of their 2018 HighTide: Edinburgh programme, HighTide have now partnered with Assembly to present Disruption, their programme of contemporary new writing exclusively at Assembly Roxy. The six pieces chosen demonstrate HighTide and Assembly Festival's shared vision for new writing as a space of political, contemporary and provocative work, created by new, diverse artists. HighTide is renowned for the discovery of new playwrights, including Ella Hickson, Nick Payne and Vinay Patel, and the Disruption season sees HighTide writers premiere at the world's largest arts festival ahead of performances at HighTide Festivals Aldeburgh and Walthamstow.