Full Cast Set for U.S. Stage Premiere Of Royal Shakespeare Company's HAMNET
Prior to its West Coast premiere at A.C.T., the production will visit Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago and Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington DC.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jan. 13, 2026
American Conservatory Theater has revealed the full cast for the U.S. tour of Hamnet—a co-production from the Royal Shakespeare Company and Neal Street Productions—taking place at A.C.T.'s Toni Rembe Theater from Wednesday, April 22 through Sunday, May 24, 2026. Press night will be held on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. Single tickets (ranging from $25–$130) are on sale now at the A.C.T.
Warwickshire, 1582. Agnes Hathaway, a natural healer, meets the Latin tutor, William Shakespeare. Drawn together by powerful but hidden impulses, they create a life together and make a family. When the plague steals 11-year-old Hamnet from his loving parents, they must each confront their loss alone. And yet, out of the greatest suffering, something of extraordinary wonder is born. A love letter to passion, birth, grief, and the magic of nature, Hamnet pulls back a curtain on the story of the greatest writer in the English language and the woman who was the constant presence and purpose of his life.
Based on the best-selling novel by Maggie O'Farrell (winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction, 2020), adapted by award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi, Red Velvet, Hymn), and directed by Erica Whyman (former acting artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company), Hamnet will feature Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Agnes and Rory Alexander as William.
Reprising their roles from the RSC's Stratford-upon-Avon and Garrick runs are Ajani Cabey (Hamnet), Karl Haynes (Ned), and Haydn Burke (Ensemble). Completing the cast are Troy Alexander (Bartholomew), Nigel Barrett (John/ Will Kempe), Saffron Dey (Judith), Victoria Elliott (Joan & Elizabeth Condell), Heather Forster (Eliza), Thalia Gambe (Understudy Susanna, Judith & Tilly), Ava Hinds Jones (Susanna), Nicki Hobday (Jude & Physician's Wife), Penny Layden (Mary), Matilda McCarthy (Tilly/Caterina & Will's Landlady) and Bert Seymour (Burbage/Father John).
The production will feature Set and Costume Design by Tom Piper, Lighting by Prema Mehta, Sound by Simon Baker, Music by Oğuz Kaplangi, Casting by Amy Ball CDG, and Movement by Ayşe Tashkiran.
The original production of Hamnet played to sold-out audiences in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2023, breaking box office records at the Swan Theatre. It later opened to the biggest box office advance in the Garrick Theatre's history when it transferred to the West End in the Autumn.
Prior to its West Coast premiere at A.C.T., the production will visit Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago and Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington DC.
Hamnet has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide and was named both Waterstones Book of the Year and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2020. The novel also saw Maggie O'Farrell named the winner of the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction; the UK's most prestigious annual book award celebrating and honouring fiction written by women. As the No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller in 2021, Hamnet was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction (2021) and British Book awards ‘Fiction Book of the Year' (2021)
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