'She’s like no one I’ve ever met... She’s like fire and water all at once.'

 

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s WhatsOnStage nominated production of Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet, played a sold-out run in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon from 1 April to 17 June 2023. The production then transferred to the Garrick Theatre, London from 30 September 2023 to 17 February 2024.  

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. 

Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling book and adapted by award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi, Red Velvet, Hymn), 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.  

Directed by Erica Whyman, with Set Design by Tom Piper, Lighting by Prema Mehta, Sound by Simon Baker, Music by Oğuz Kaplangi, Movement by Ayse Tashkiran, Fights by Kate Waters and Casting by Amy Ball CDG, Hamnet is a love letter to passion, birth, grief and the magic of nature. 

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CAST & CREATIVES

CAST

Gabriel Akuwudike – Bartholomew
Sarah Belcher – Joan
Will Brown – Burbage / Father John
Haydn Burke – Off-stage Understudy
Ajani Cabey – Hamnet / Thomas Day
Fay Cambell – Off-stage Understudy
Phoebe Campbell – Susanna
Mhari Gayer – Tilly / Caterina / Shakespeare’s Landlady
Frankie Hastings – Eliza
Karl Haynes – Ned
Alex Jarrett – Judith
Madeleine Mantock – Agnes
Hannah McPake – Jude
Liza Sadovy – Mary
Tom Varey – William
Peter Wight – John / Will Kempe

 

CREATIVE

Lolita Chakrabarti – Adaptor
Erica Whyman – Director
Tom Piper – Designer
Prema Mehta – Lighting
Oğuz Kaplangi – Music
Simon Baker – Sound Designer
Ayse Tashkiran – Movement
Pippa Hill – Dramaturg
Amy Ball CDG – Casting Director
Alice Brown – Music Director

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