Shakespeare’s Globe has announced its Summer 2025 season, featuring Twelfth Night, the return of Rough Magic and The Crucible – the first time a modern classic will be performed at the Globe Theatre.
Romeo & Juliet kicks off the season, running from April 25 – August 2, directed by associate artistic director Sean Holmes (Much Ado About Nothing). Abdul Sessay and Lola Shalam (pictured top) will star as Romeo and Juliet, as the play is transported to the dark brooding world of the American West where a blood feud between two sworn enemies erupts with brutal consequences.
The cast also includes Niamh James as Abram/Cover, Roman Asde as Benvolio, Léa des Garets as Lady Capulet, John Lightbody as Friar Lawrence, Michael Elcock as Mercutio, Jamie-Rose Monk as Nurse, and Rawaed Asde as Tybalt.
Romeo & Juliet will be designed by Paul Wills, with Grant Olding as
composer, Maisie Carter as fight director, Tamsin Hurtado-Clarke as movement director, text by Si Trinder and voice by Liz Flint. Romeo & Juliet is cast by Becky Paris, head of casting at Shakespeare’s Globe.
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, runs from May 8 – July 12, directed by Ola Ince (Othello). This production of revolutionary American playwright Miller’s seminal play about Salem in 1692, and McCarthy’s 1950’s America,
marks the first time a modern classic will be performed in the Globe Theatre.
When rumours grow that a group of girls are practicing witchcraft, mass hysteria sweeps through the town of Salem, Massachusetts.
The Crucible will be designed by Amelia Jane Hankin, with Lindsay McAllister as assistant director, Renell Shaw as composer, and voice and text by Annemette Verspeak.
The Merry Wives of Windsor runs from July 4 – September 20, directed by Sean Holmes. Elizabethan propriety dissolves into beautiful chaos in this story of mischief, madness, and metamorphoses. Boisterous and disreputable knight Sir John Falstaff hatches a plan to restore his fortunes by seducing two wealthy housewives, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, who decide to play a few tricks of their own.
The Merry Wives of Windsor will be designed by Grace Smart, text by Si Trinder and voice by Gary Horner.
Twelfth Night, or What You Will runs from August 8 – October 25, directed by Robin Belfield (Princess Essex). Shakespeare’s dizzying tragicomedy sweeps into the Globe Theatre in an intoxicating whirlwind, where love can be as changeable as the weather.
It will be designed by Jean Chan, with Simon Slater as composer and Ingrid Mackinnon as movement director.
Troilus & Cressida runs from September 26 – October 26, directed by Owen Horsley (Twelfth Night). Shakespeare’s genre-defying satirical study of appearance versus reality, sees two opposing worlds of Greece and Troy clash in this rarely performed play.
Troilus & Cressida will be designed by Ryan Dawson-Laight.
Following the success of Twelfth Night in 2023, the Cue Scripts experiment returns on Sunday, September 14 with A Midsummer Night’s Dream: For One Night Only. The production will see a company of actors all meeting for the first time on the day of performance. The evening promises nothing but
joy when both artists and audience take part in this ultra-live theatrical experiment.
After directing Twelfth Night: For One Night Only, Blanche McIntyre returns to the Globe, having most recently directed Antony and Cleopatra (2024).
Rough Magic runs from July 19 – August 23 in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Co-produced by Shakespeare’s Globe and Splendid Productions, the summer 2024 hit returns with a supernaturally silly adventure featuring the Weird Sisters of Macbeth.
Globe director of education Lucy Cuthbertson (Midsummer Mechanicals) directs, with additional direction from Splendid Productions’ Kerry Frampton. Rough Magic is written by Kerry Frampton and Ben Hales and designed by Rose Revitt, with Kate Webster as choreographer, John Bulleid as illusion designer and Claire Llewellyn as fight director.
Tickets: www.shakespearesglobe.com