Full casting announced for RSC 2026 tour of HAMLET
Full casting has been announced for the RSC’s forthcoming touring production of Hamlet which visits Truro, Bradford, Norwich, Nottingham, Blackpool, Newcastle upon Tyne, York and Canterbury between 24 February – 25 April.
The production, originally directed by Rupert Goold and directed on tour by Sophie Drake, visits eight venues in England in 2026 with a new cast, after originally opening in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon in 2025.
Joining the previously announced Ralph Davis (who plays the title role of Hamlet) are Rob Alexander-Adams as Voltemand, Richard Cant as Polonius, Kat Collings (Ensemble), Raymond Coulthard as Claudius, Maximus Evans as Marcellus, Ian Hughes as Ghost/Player King, CJ Johnson as Player Queen, Julia Kass as Guildenstern, Poppy Miller as Gertrude, Georgia-Mae Myers as Ophelia, Mark Oosterveen as Cornelius/Priest, Djibril Ramsey as Barnardo, Colin Ryan as Horatio, Jonathan Savage (Ensemble), Jamie Sayers as Rosencrantz, Leo Shak as Francisco, and Benjamin Westerby as Laertes.
In each venue the tour visits there will be a programme of participatory work, with members of the local community creating their own responses to the play.
Director Rupert Goold said: “Hamlet is a play about the inevitability of death - the death of fathers, the death of kings, the mortality facing each and everyone of us, but it is also a play about how to live, what makes a good life and a just one too, however brief our allotted time. Our production is set aboard a ship but one that is soon to founder, going down with all hands. Its inspiration comes from the most famous sinking in history, and just as that icy tragedy came to pass in a little over two and a half hours our play takes place in real time and for about as long, as much catastrophic thriller as poetic meditation. It’s a production that asks what it means to be human and decisive when time is running out.”
Revival Director Sophie Drake said: “I’m so looking forward to taking this exciting show on the road. We’ve assembled a wonderful cast, led by Ralph Davis, who promises to make a great Hamlet. It’s probably Shakespeare’s most famous play, but I’m sure no one will have seen a Hamlet like this before. I can’t wait for audiences to see it.”
Joining Rupert and Sophie on the creative team are set designer Es Devlin, costume designer Evie Gurney, lighting designer Jack Knowles, composer and sound designer Adam Cork, movement director Hannes Langolf, video designer Akhila Krishnan, fight director Kev McCurdy, dramaturg Rebecca Latham, and casting director Matthew Dewsbury CDG.