Charlotte Cornwell is to return to the Royal Shakespeare Company after 32 years to play Gertrude in David Farr's Hamlet which opens in Stratford this week.
RSC associate director David Farr, who directs, will be reunited with RSC associate artists Jonathan Slinger (Hamlet) and Greg Hicks (Claudius).
Said Farr, “I’m thrilled to be directing Hamlet in Michael Boyd's final season. He’s been a remarkable person to work with for the four years I have been an associate.
“Jon Slinger is one of the great classical actors of his generation and I love working with him. He has an emotional access that is truly rare.
“This will be the fifth time Greg Hicks and I have worked together. He’s a fabulously powerful Shakespearean actor, and to see him and Jon Slinger face off against each other should be something special.
“I’m also thrilled to be working with Charlotte Cornwell, Robin Soans and Pippa Nixon for the first time. It's a great company."
The cast of Hamlet will also appear in two other summer productions, As You Like It and All's Well That Ends Well.
Charlotte Cornwell last appeared in the RSC's 1980 London run at The Warehouse in Much Ado About Nothing, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Bastard Angel.
She also played Carlotta in The Cherry Orchard and Mrs Lintott in The History Boys at Centre Theatre Group in Los Angeles in 2008.
David Farr and Jonathan Slinger last worked together on the RSC's What Country Friends Is This? trilogy, with Slinger taking the roles of Prospero in The Tempest and Malvolio in Twelfth Night as part of the World Shakespeare Festival last year.
Slinger's other RSC credits include the title role in Michael Boyd’s Macbeth and Lenny in Farr's production of Pinter’s The Homecoming in 2011.
Slinger was also part of Boyd's award-winning Histories ensemble, playing both title roles in Richard II and Richard III.
Farr has previously directed Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Night of the Soul, King Lear, The Winter's Tale and Silence for the RSC. His play The Heart of Robin Hood was the RSC Christmas show in 2011.
Associate artist Greg Hicks was last at the RSC in 2010 when he played Leontes in The Winter's Tale and the title roles in Julius Caesar and King Lear.
His other RSC credits include Macbeth, Hamlet, Poor Beck, Coriolanus for which he received the Critics’ Circle award for best actor, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Tantalus.
Pippa Nixon who plays Ophelia appeared at the RSC as The Bastard in King John and Lady Anne in Richard III last year.
Other RSC credits include Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dorotea in Cardenio, Shave’em in The City Madam and Trish in Days of Significance.
The cast also comprises Karen Archer (Player Queen), Cliff Burnett (Player King), Kiza Deen (courtier), Daniel Easton (Reynaldo), David Fielder (first gravedigger / Voltemand), Dave Fishley (Barnardo), Michael Michael Grady-Hall (Osric), Rosie Hilal (second gravedigger), Chris Jared (Fortinbras), Mark Holgate (Francisco), Natalie Klamar (courtier / student / player), Luke Norris (Laertes), Oliver Ryan (Rosencrantz), Robin Soans (Polonius), John Stahl (priest / player), Samuel Taylor (Marcellus), Nicolas Tennant (Guildenstern) and Alex Waldmann (Horatio).
The play is designed by Jon Bausor with lighting by Jon Clarke. Music is composed by David Sawer.
Sound design is by Gareth Fry and movement by Joseph Alford and Carolina Valdés.
Hamlet previews in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from Thursday (14 March) with press night on Tuesday 26 March. It runs until Saturday 28 September.