Casting Updates For RSC's King & Country Cycle And Richard II Revival



The Royal Shakespeare Company have released cast details for their production of Henry V this autumn, giving some indication of which cast members from the award winning Richard II will be returning to the play in January.

Henry V is the fourth production in Gregory Doran's King & Country tetralogy of Shakespeare's history plays. Following Henry V's run in Stratford-upon-Avon (12th - September-25th October), it will transfer to the Barbican in London on November 7th. From January 2016 it will be joined by the productions of Richard II and Henry IV Parts I and II, and the four plays will run in cycle from the 12th-24th January. 

It is already known that David Tennant will be returning to the role of King Richard II, the performance for which he was named Best Actor at the 2015 WhatsOnStage Awards. Today's announcement confirms that many familiar names will also be returning as part of the company and likely to be reprising their Richard II roles.

Richard II cast members (original 2013 roles in brackets) among the Henry V cast are: Antony Byrne (Mowbray), Sean Chapman (Northumberland), Oliver Ford Davies (Duke of York), Jim Hooper (Bishop of Carlisle), Jane Lapotaire (Duchess of Gloucester), Sam Marks (Bushy), Keith Osborn (Scroop), Joshua Richards (Ross / Lord Marshall) and Simon Thorp (Salisbury). 

The role of John of Gaunt will be played by Julian Glover in place of Michael Pennington. Jasper Britton appears to be playing Bolingbroke / Henry IV across three plays; originally Nigel Lindsay took on the role for Richard II. Matthew Needham will be performing as Harry Percy/Hotspur.

All four of the plays in the tetralogy are being staged  both as part of the cycle and as stand alone performances. Tickets are available here
Please note that single performances of Richard II are currently sold out. 

In 2016 David Tennant will be joining the King & Country company to reprise his role in Richard II in New York for a limited run of all four plays at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Performance dates and ticket details will be released in the autumn. 

For more information on King and Country: Shakespeare's Great Cycle of Kings please visit the RSC dedicated website.

For the full RSC Henry V cast list click here.

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