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 the best-selling novel by Maggie O'Farrell, adapted by award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi, Red Velvet, Hymn) and directed by former RSC Deputy and Acting Artistic Director Erica Whyman, 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, Hamnet is a love letter to passion, birth, grief, and the magic of nature.

The critically-acclaimed production heads on its first tour of the USA in 2026, visiting The Yard, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Chicago, Illinois, from 10 February to 8 March 2026 before transferring to the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, DC, from 17 March to 12 April 2026 and the Toni Rembe Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco, from 22 April to 24 May 2026.

The original production of Hamnet played to sell-out audiences in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2023, breaking box office records at the Swan Theatre. It later opened to the biggest box office advance in the Garrick Theatre’s history when it transferred to the West End.