Shakespeare's Globe

Small-Cast Hamlet Heads Out on Tour

The Shakespeare's Globe summer 2011 production of Hamlet will set out on a tour this summer of outdoor U.K. regional venues, as well as venues in Spain and Austria. Hamlet begins its tour in Portsmouth on June 7 and will finish in London at the Globe on Sept. 1.

Using an Elizabethan-inspired stage—influenced by paintings and etchings from Shakespeare's time, when touring was prevalent—eight actors will visit beautiful and inspiring settings across the U.K. and Europe with this scaled-down production.

Taking on the role of Hamlet is Royal Academy of Dramatic Art graduate Michael Benz, who has performed in Trevor Nunn's productions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and The Tempest, with Ralph Fiennes at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2011. He made his Globe debut in 2009 in A New World directed by Dominic Dromgoole, and As You Like It directed by Thea Sharrock. 

Cast as Ophelia is Carlyss Peer, who performed in Sir Peter Hall's production of The Rivals both in Bath and London. Peter Bray also joins this cast, and he and Peer made their Globe debut in Bill Buckhurst's A Midsummer's Night's Dream. Tom Lawrence, who appeared in the 2011 production of Hamlet, will be taking on the role of Horatio. Matthew Romain, who most recently appeared in The Recruiting Officer at Donmar Warehouse, will also be joining the cast. 

Artistic Director of the Globe, Dominic Dromgoole, and Globe regular Bill Buckhurst will co-direct Hamlet. During his time at Shakespeare's Globe, Dromgoole has directed Shakespeare's Henry V (2012), Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 (2010), Love's Labour's Lost (2007 and 2009), Romeo and Juliet (2009), and King Lear (2008). Buckhurst has worked most recently with Globe Education, directing A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet for its Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank project. He has also directed Tinderbox (Tooting Arts Club), Riff Raff (Arcola) and The Vegemite Tales (West End/Riverside Studios). As an actor, Buckhurst has performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Royal Court, Shakespeare's Globe, and Oxford Stage Company. 

Following are the scheduled dates for the tour:

June 7–9: Portsmouth, City Museum and Gardens

June 11–15: London, Shakespeare's Globe

June 17–18: Poole, Upton Country Park

June 23–24: Spain, Alaca de Henares, Festival Casicos en Alacala

June 26–July 1: Spain, Festival Veranos de la Villa

July 10–26: Oxford, Bodleian Library Quad

July 29–30: Essex, Hedingham Castle

Aug. 1–4: Bungay, Bungay Castle

Aug. 6–7: West Sussex, Parham House

Aug. 10–11: Austria, Art Canuntum

Aug. 14–17: Bowness-on-Windermere, Storrs Hall Hotel

Aug. 18–19: Penrith, Brougham Hall

Aug. 22–23: Dumfries, The Crichton

Aug. 26: Vale of Glamorgan , St Donat's Arts Centre

Aug. 28–September 1: London, Shakespeare's Globe

May 2, 2012

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