Thea Sharrock To Direct At The Globe

Thea Sharrock will direct Shakespeare's As You Like It at the Globe this summer from 30 May. A favourite among Shakespeare's comedies, As You Like It combines cross dressing and slapstick with gentle satire and brilliant conversation.

Cast in the central role of Rosalind is Naomi Frederick, best known from her acclaimed performance in Kneehigh's production of Brief Encounter. Joining the creative team are designer Dick Bird and composer Stephen Warbeck who reunite after their 2007 Globe production of Othello.

At 24, Thea Sharrock was the youngest artistic director in British theatre when she ran London's Southwark Playhouse in 2001, and she subsequently went on to run the Gate Theatre between 2004 and 2006. In 2007 she directed Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe in Equus which transferred to New York in 2008. Other directing projects include Cloud Nine (Almeida), Happy Now and Emperor Jones (National Theatre), A Voyage Around My Father (Donmar Warehouse), Heroes (West End) and Blithe Spirit (Bath Theatre Royal and West End).

Naomi Frederick's credits include Audrey Affleck in Mrs Affleck at The National Theatre, Laura in Brief Encounter for Kneehigh and Isabella in Measure for Measure for Complicite at The National Theatre. Naomi is joined by an exciting cast of actors including Jack Laskey as Orlando (In Extremis and Antony & Cleopatra, Shakespeare's Globe; Taming of the Shrew and The Merchant of Venice, RSC), Jamie Parker as Oliver (The History Boys, National Theatre/Broadway and Singer & After
the Dance, Oxford Stage Company), Tim McMullan as Jaques (Coram Boy, National Theatre and Mnemonic, Complicite) and Dominic Rowan as Touchstone (Mourning Becomes Electra, National Theatre and The Merchant of Venice, RSC).

Dick Bird was the designer for Othello at Shakespeare's Globe in 2007. His upcoming and recent credits include Been so Long by Ché Walker (Young Vic/ETT), La Grande Magie (La Comdie Franchaise), Only an Apple (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), Snegurochka - The Snow Maiden (Wexford
Festival Opera), The Enchanted Pig (Young Vic, 2006) The Night Season (National Theatre).

Stephen Warbeck is one of Britain's premier film score composers, winning an Academy Award for his score for Shakespeare in Love and has composed music for various other film and television projects including Skellig and Billy Elliot.  He has written extensively for theatre, including most recently Parlour Song and When the Rain Stops Falling at the Almeida, Othello and Pericles at Shakespeare's Globe and the Royal Court's production of The Seagull which transferred to
Broadway.

The Globe's Young Hearts theatre season includes Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, Troilus and Cressida and Love's Labour's Lost. The Globe will present three new plays: The Frontline by Ché Walker, Helen by Euripides in a new version by Frank McGuinness and A New World: A Life of Thomas Paine by Trevor Griffiths. In addition to its main stage programme the Globe will present two nationAl Small-scale tours of The Comedy of Errors and A Midsummer Night's Dream.