RSC announces principal casting for Yaël Farber’s THE WINTER’S TALE
The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced principal casting for Yaël Farber’s upcoming production of The Winter’s Tale, which opens at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 12 July-30 August.
The production will see double Olivier and Tony Award winner Bertie Carvel (Matilda, RSC) return to the RSC in the role of Leontes, alongside Madeline Appiah (TINA - The Tina Turner Musical, West End) as Hermione, Aïcha Kossoko (Kyoto, @sohoplace) as Paulina, and John Light (Little Foxes, Young Vic) as Polixenes. Further casting will be announced later this month.
Director Yaël Farber said: “Bertie Carvel is an extraordinary artist. In his hands the complexity, cruelty and pathos of Leontes feels exciting and possible. Equally - Madeline Appiah’s Hermione promises not just grace and empathy but ferocity. Portraying women in their complexity can be rare. This will be a Hermione for our times. To have an artist of John Light’s calibre playing Polixenes is a gift in a play where we witness not one, but two patriarchs fall prey to their own delusions of control. By contrast, Paulina is one of the most powerful women Shakespeare has conjured. Hers is a feminism of transformative, fireborne love and protection. And as a performer, Aïcha Kossoko brings many layers and worlds with her, laying bare how limited we can often be in understanding women in their full power.
“The Winter’s Tale is a beautiful and strange beast… a mystery to be solved in some ways. A fusion of gritty tragedy and leaps of faith for both the characters and the audience. We are in such a stark and brutal time in the world - and this story plunges us into the shadows of human nature from the start. The journey then expands into a space of miracles and wonder.
“I am drawn to stories that explore the shadows - but I am most interested right now in the possibility of redemption. A redemption that is earned.”
Shakespeare's enigmatic story of love, loss and rebirth is directed by Yaël Farber in her RSC debut following acclaimed productions of King Lear and the Olivier-nominated Macbeth for the Almeida Theatre.
The creative team also includes set and costume designer Soutra Gilmour, lighting designer Tim Lutkin, composer Max Perryment, movement director Imogen Knight, fight and intimacy director Yarit Dor, casting director Julia Horan CDG, and dramaturg Drew Lichtenberg.