Full casting has been announced for The Duchess Of Malfi, the inaugural production at Shakespeare’s Globe’s new indoor theatre, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, which will see Gemma Arterton return to the London stage to play the title role.
Dominic Dromgoole’s chilling take on the dark Jacobean drama will see the British screen and stage star joined by Sean Gilder, David Dawson, James Garnon, Denise Gough and Alex Waldmann.
Specially created to complement the new theatre’s intimate flickering candle-filled atmosphere, the famously brutal story centres on a widowed duchess who marries beneath her class, with Dawson and Garnon taking on the roles of the duchess’ cruel and menacing brothers whose determination to reap their revenge for the unapproved match brings tragedy and cruelty to Malfi.
While Ripper Street star Dawson has not been seen in the West End since 2011’s Luise Miller at the Donmar Warehouse, which followed his critically acclaimed leading role in the Royal Court’s hugely successful production Posh, his co-star and onstage partner in crime Garnon returns to the stage following this summer’s The Tempest at Shakespeare’s Globe where he has performed every summer since 2009. The pair’s co-conspirator Bosola will be played by another face recently seen on the stage, Chimerica star and Shameless regular Gilder.
Tackling Arterton’s love interest Antonio, Waldmann follows numerous classical roles working with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Covent Garden’s Donmar Warehouse, including appearances in its high-profile West End productions of Hamlet and Twelfth Night.
Critics’ Circle Award-winning actress Gough, who will complete the cast as Garnon’s onstage wife Julia, boasts stage roles in Desire Under The Elms at the Lyric Hammersmith and Our New Girl at the Bush theatre.
The grisly drama, which will open the new venue on 9 January, will be followed by two further Jacobean pieces in the debut season, The Knight Of The Burning Pestle and The Malcontent.