Eleanor Rhode, who last directed a Royal Shakespeare Company production in 2019, is to return to direct A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2024.
Rhode was at the helm of King John, which was also broadcast in cinemas in 2020.
Mathew Baynton, one of the performers of the hit children's television series Horrible Histories, will play Bottom. Bally Gill will return to the RSC for the first time since playing Romeo in Erica Whyman’s 2018 production of Romeo and Juliet to take the roles of Oberon and Theseus. Rosie Sheehy, who took the lead role in Rhode’s production of King John, will play Puck.
Sirine Saba, who played Peaseblossom in Michael Boyd’s 1999 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, will take the roles of Titania and Hippolyta.
The cast also includes Nicholas Armfield (Demetrius), Emily Cundick (Snout), Esme Hough (Cobweb), Ryan Hutton (Lysander), Charlotte Jaconelli (Peaseblossom), Laurie Jamieson (Snug), Neil McCaul (Egeus), Helen Monks (Peter Quince), Michael Olatunji (Moth), Adrian Richards (Philostrate), Boadicea Ricketts (Helena), Dawn Sievewright (Hermia), Mitesh Soni (Flute), Premi Tamang (Starveling) and Tom Xander (Mustardseed).
The creative team includes designer Lucy Osborne. Illusion direction and design will be by John Bulleid, lighting by Matt Daw, music by Will Gregory, sound by Pete Malkin, movement by Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster, video by Nina Dunn, fights and intimacy by Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown, and casting by Matthew Dewsbury.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream will run in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford from Tuesday 30 January until Saturday 30 March.