The season, running from the 1st to the 25th July at Guildford’s idyllic Braboeuf Manor and Thomas’s College, Queen’s Road from the 31st July until the 22nd Augustin Richmond, will bring together Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing.
Casting has now been announced for the Guildford Shakespeare Company and Orange Tree Theatre’s upcoming summer season of productions.
Directed by Orange Tree Theatre’s Artistic Director Tom Littler, the cast will include: Phoebe Pryce (The Crucible, Shakespeare’s Globe) and James Sheldon (The Rivals, Orange Tree Theatre) as Beatrice/Rosaline and Benedick Berowne; Joëlle Brabban (Romeo & Juliet, Grosvenor Park Open Air) as Hero/Moth; Sally Cheng (My Neighbour Totoro, RSC/West End) as Margaret/Jaquenetta; Jeremy Lloyd (Singin’ in the Rain, Jonathan Church Prod) as Costard/Borachio; Chirag Bendict Lobo (The Circle, Orange Tree) as Claudio Dumain and Owen Oakeshott (The Mousetrap, West End) as Prince of Navarre/Don Pedro.
This co-production between the two companies has been designed as one continuous story unfolding across two summers (1939 and 1945), with the production taking audiences on a journey of love, loss, and reunion over time.
The two productions will run in repertory throughout July, giving audiences the chance to enjoy each play independently or experience both in a single day.
GSC co-founder, Matt Pinches, comments, “The prospect of staging these two beloved comedies and returning to Braboeuf Manor is incredibly exciting for our 20th Anniversary. As the first show we produced, Much Ado will always hold a special place in our hearts, and to pair it so sensitively as Tom Littler has done with Love’s Labour’s Lost is something very special. Beautifully staged Shakespeare, full of feel-good factor fun in an idyllic setting… what better way to spend a summer evening?”
Director, Tom Littler, adds, “I am delighted to help celebrate the 20th birthday of one of my favourite theatre companies, Guildford Shakespeare Company. I loved directing these two great comedies a decade ago, and I’m excited by the opportunity to return to them and, this time, to tie them together as a rich and sweeping narrative that sees love gained, lost, and, against the odds, won again. It’s a treat to be back in Guildford, and to share these plays with audiences in London too – in the Orange Tree’s first visit to the gardens of Thomas’s College on Richmond Hill.”