Sheffield Theatres announce KING LEAR and TWELFTH NIGHT with Ian McDiarmid & Mathew Horne
A double-bill of Shakespeare has been announced for Sheffield Crucible with two major new productions brought to the stage by a company of actors across both titles.
The company will be joined by screen and stage stars Mathew Horne in Twelfth Night (10-31 October), directed by Jamie Glover, and Ian McDiarmid in King Lear (29 August-19 September), directed by Donmar Warehouse Associate Artistic Director Titas Halder in association with MGC, which marks a reunion for Sheffield Theatres and former Artistic Director Michael Grandage.
***
In an attempt to spend the remaining years of his life unburdened by the pressures of monarchy, King Lear decides to pass his lands and responsibilities to his three daughters.
When he tells them they must secure their inheritance by proving how much they love him, his eldest daughters make dramatic speeches, striving to inherit as much as they can. The youngest refuses the challenge and is immediately banished by her father. Once in control of their father’s kingdom, Lear’s remaining daughters trade declarations of love for cold-hearted treachery, ejecting the former king from their homes, and stripping him of his authority, his dignity, and ultimately his sanity as they abandon all thought of loyalty to pursue their political and personal ambitions.
Ian McDiarmid returns to Sheffield to play the title role in King Lear. He is an Olivier and Tony award-winning theatre actor, as well as having multiple screen credits including Palpatine in the Star Wars franchise.
***
After their ship is wrecked, Viola and Sebastian are washed ashore in different locations, each believing the other to have drowned.
Without her brother, Viola disguises herself as a young man to find safety and work, in the home of Duke Orsino. When Orsino entrusts his new aid to deliver his letters of love to the Countess Olivia, it is the disguised Viola who catches Olivia’s eye. With her own feelings for Orsino to contend with, Olivia becomes part of a tangled romantic web, where not everything is always as it seems.
Mathew Horne plays Malvolio in Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, Twelfth Night. An award-winning comedic TV, film and theatre actor, he’s best known for his portrayal of Gavin in the BAFTA-winning Gavin and Stacey.