Angus Jackson’s production will transfer to the Garrick Theatre for a limited season from the 27th October.
Based on Miguel de Cervantes’ novel, Don Quixote has been adapted for the stage by award-winning poet, journalist and literary critic James Fenton and is directed by Angus Jackson.
Taking up a lance and sword, Don Quixote sets out on a hilarious journey across medieval Spain, defending the helpless and vanquishing the wicked. Hopelessly unprepared and increasingly losing his grip on reality, with each calamitous adventure the two hapless heroes experience, the romantic ideal of Quixote’s books seems further away than ever.
The production will see David Threlfall (Frank Gallagher in Channel 4’s Shameless) playing the role of Don Quixote, a role which he played in the original production in Stratford in 2016.
He will be joined on stage by comedian and actor Rufus Hound, who will also be reprising his role Sancho Panza. His previous stage credits include the Rose Theatre Kingston’s War of the Roses cycle, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Savoy Theatre), One Man Two Guvnors (NT/West End), Wind in the Willows (London Palladium Theatre),What the Butler Saw (Curve Leicester) and Present Laughter (Chichester).
Angus Jackson’s previous credits include the critically acclaimed production of Oppenheimer, which transferred to the West End in 2015 after a sell-out run at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. Last year, he was season director of the ROME MMXVII season of Shakespeare plays (RST and Barbican).
Talking about the news RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran said: “We are delighted that Angus Jackson’s joyful production of Don Quixote is going to be shared with West End audiences this autumn, following my production of Imperium playing at the Gielgud Theatre and our regular winter season of Shakespeare plays at the Barbican.”
Don Quixote features designs by Robert Innes Hopkins, with music composed by Grant Olding, lighting by Mark Henderson and sound by Fergus O’Hare. The fight director is Malcolm Ranson. Movement is by Lucy Cullingford.
Don Quixote will play at the Garrick Theatre from the 27th October until the 2nd February 2019.