Shakespeare’s Globe and Headlong announce casting for HENRY V

Launching Shakespeare’s Globe’s Winter Season, Henry V opens in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on 10 November, running until 4 February.

In a Shakespeare’s Globe and Headlong production with Leeds Playhouse and  Royal & Derngate, Northampton, Henry V will be performed in the intimate, indoor Sam Wanamaker Playhouse for the first time, exploring the single-minded pursuit of Henry V, and what it means to be ‘English’. 

Director of Henry V and Artistic Director of Headlong, Holly Race Roughan, said: “Shakespeare’s plays are packed with so many  universal ideas, that they remain intriguingly relevant to contemporary society hundreds of years on. However,  occasionally, one of his plays speaks to the present moment so directly, that it takes your breath away. Staging Henry V with the backdrop of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, Brexit, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, feels like one of  these moments. This play that teems with the anxiety of royal succession, nationalism, war and imperialism, rips  through the centuries and offers us a chance to reflect on our present moment in a powerfully heightened way. We  were keen when we embarked on this production to not make a history play, but to treat the play as if it were a new  piece of writing that is in conversation with our immediate experience. Our hope is that through this stripped back  production, and lean edit, there is space for the audience to bring their imagination and question with us our present  situation.” 

The cast of Henry V comprises Joséphine Callies (Spotlight Prize 2021 winner) as Katherine/Boy, James Cooney (The 47th, Old Vic) as Thomas/Orleans/Gower,  Georgia Frost (Death Drop, West End) as Nym/Michael Williams/Rambures, Jon Furlong (Cyrano de Bergerac, West End) as Bardolph/John Bates/Constable of France, Joshua Griffin (The Mousetrap, West End) as Bedford/Fluellen, Eleanor Henderson (little scratch, Hampstead Theatre) as Queen of France/Prince Louis/Ambassador 1/Le Fer, Oliver Johnstone (Antigone, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre) as Henry V, Geoffrey Lumb (The Homecoming, Theatre Royal Bath/ UK Tour) as King of France/Erpingham/Governor of Harfleur/Ambassador 2, Helena Lymbery (Britannicus, Lyric Hammersmith) as Henry IV/Exeter and Dharmesh Patel (Groan Ups, Mischief Theatre) as Scroop/ Pistol/Montjoy/Officer.

The production is designed by Moi Tran, lighting by Azusa Ono, composition and sound by Max Pappenheim, movement by Malik Nasha Sharpe, and casting by Becky Paris.

For more information, please click here.