Full Casting Announced for Robert Hastie's Production of JULIUS CAESAR

Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres Robert Hastie today announces the full cast for his inaugural production as Artistic Director - William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Samuel West returns to Sheffield, where he was Artistic Director from 2005 - 2007, to play Brutus. He is joined by Elliot Cowan as Mark Antony, Chipo Chung as Portia/Octavius, Jonathan Hyde as Julius Caesar and Zoë Waites as Cassius. The cast is completed by Lisa Caruccio Came (Calpurnia), Pandora Colin (Casca), Robert Goodale (Lepidus), Alison Halstead (Metellus), Mark Holgate (Cinna), Arthur Hughes (Lucius), Robinah Kironde (Popilus, Clitus), Lily Nichol (Soothsayer), Royce Pierreson (Ligarius, Dardanius), Abigail Thaw (Trebonius) and Paul Tinto (Artemidorus, Pindarus) . The production opens at the Crucible on 23 May, with previews from 17 May, and runs until 10 June.

'Beware the Ides of March...'

A hero returns. An assassination is foreseen. A city is turned upside-down. Shakespeare's searing political thriller asks, when the majority choose a dangerous leader, what should the honourable citizen do?

Chipo Chung plays Portia/Octavius. For theatre, her credits include Boys Will Be Boys (Bush Theatre and Headlong), The Haunting of Hill House, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Liverpool Playhouse), The Maids (Zimbabwe Theatre Association), The Fu Manchu Complex (Oval Theatre), Phèdre, The Overwhelming (National Theatre), Turandot (Hampstead Theatre), Talking To Terrorists (Oxford Playhouse and Out of Joint), The Mayor of Zalamea (Liverpool Everyman) and Hamlet (Nuffield Southampton Theatres). For television, her work includes Absentia, Into the Badlands, Thirteen, From Darkness, Fortitude, Black Mirror, The Politician's Husband, Camelot, Doctor Who, Last Enemy and Dalziel and Pascoe; and for film Triboro, The White Room, 360, In The Loop, Sunshine and Proof.

Elliot Cowan plays Mark Antony. He returns to Sheffield Theatres having previously appeared in Don Carlos (also Gielgud Theatre). His other theatre credits include An Ideal Husband (Vaudeville Theatre), Macbeth (Shakespeare's Globe), A Streetcar Named Desire (Donmar Warehouse) and The Revenger's Tragedy (National Theatre). For television his work includes Cilla, Life in Squares, Luther, Sinbad, Marchlands, The Fixer, Blood and Oil, Marple - They Do It With Mirrors and Ruby in the Smoke; and for film, Narcopolis, Angel of Decay, Howl, Hammer of the Gods, Happy Go Lucky, Alexander.

Jonathan Hyde plays Julius Caesar. His theatre credits include Travels With My Aunt (Menier Chocolate Factory), The King's Speech (UK tour and Wyndham's Theatre), Rattigan's Nijinsky (Chichester Festival Theatre), King Lear, The Seagull (international tour), Jumpers, Sleep With Me (National Theatre), Antigone (The Old Vic), The Rehearsal, Scenes from an Execution (Almeida Theatre), Julius Caesar, The Alchemist, 'Tis Pity She's A Whore, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (RSC) and Macbeth (Lyceum Theatre). His recent television work includes The Strain, Trollhunters, Tokyo Trial, Isaan Newton: The Last Magician, Spooks; and for film, Breathe, Thea, Crimson Peak, The Mummy and Titanic.

Zoë Waites plays Cassius. She returns to Sheffield Theatres having previously appeared in Hobson's Choice. Her theatre work includes Deny, Deny, Deny (Park Theatre), Love for Love, Night of the Soul, The Prisoner's Dilemma, Twelfth Night, Othello, The Family Reunion and Romeo and Juliet (all for the RSC including Stratford, London, Brooklyn Academy Of Music, national and international touring), King Lear, Mrs Klein, The Play About the Baby (Almeida Theatre), Endpaper and Sixty-Six Books (Bush Theatre), Birdsong (Comedy Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Theatre Royal Bath and UK tour) and Nicholas Nickleby (Chichester Festival Theatre, national tour, Gielgud Theatre and Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto). Her work for television includes Broadchurch, Vexed, The Other Boleyn Girl and Love in a Cold Climate.

Samuel West returns to Sheffield Theatres to play Brutus - he was previously Artistic Director between 2005-2007. His theatre acting credits include Present Laugher (Theatre Royal Bath and tour), Young Chekhov Season (Chichester Festival Theatre), Uncle Vanya (Vaudeville Theatre), A Number (Sheffield Studio, Menier Chocolate Factory and Fugard Theatre, Cape Town), Book of Disquiet (Sinfonietta Productions), Enron (Chichester Festival Theatre, Royal Court Theatre and Noel Coward Theatre), The Family Reunion, Betrayal (Donmar Warehouse) and Drunk Enough To Say I Love You (Public Theater, New York). His recent work for television includes The Hollow Crown, The Frankenstein Chronicles, Mr Selfridge, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and W1A; and for film, Suffragette, Notting Hill, Iris and the forthcoming Darkest Hour and On Chesil Beach.

Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres Robert Hastie directs. He most recently directed Breaking the Code (Royal Exchange, Manchester - winner Best Production, Manchester Theatre awards), Henry V (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, the inaugural production in Artistic Director Tamara Harvey's first season at Theatr Clwyd. He is Associate Director of the Donmar Warehouse, where his recent work includes acclaimed productions of My Night With Reg by Kevin Elyot (also West End - Hastie was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards; and the production was nominated for Best Revival at the Olivier Awards), and Splendour, by Abi Morgan. Hastie recently completed the first stage of the Donmar Warehouse's ten year long My Mark project with Michelle Terry, undertaking and filming interviews in schools nationally to document the views of those eligible to vote for the first time in the 2025 general election.

His other directing credits include A Breakfast of Eels (Print Room), Carthage, Events While Guarding The Bofors Gun (Finborough Theatre), Sunburst (Holborn Grange Hotel), Sixty-Six Books: In The Land Of Uz, Middle Man, David and Goliath, Snow In Sheffield and A Lost Expression (Bush Theatre).

As an actor, his work included productions with the National Theatre, RSC, Chichester Festival Theatre, Glasgow Citizens Theatre, Cheek by Jowl, Frantic Assembly, Northampton Royal & Derngate, Headlong, Birmingham Rep, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith, Derby Playhouse, Playful Productions, Liverpool Playhouse, as well as the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, where he made his professional debut.

www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk