A cast of 120 including professional actors, adults from community groups from six English towns and cities and members of the RSC’s young acting company will appear in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s productions of Henry VI: Rebellion and Wars of the Roses.
Owen Horsley, director of Henry VI: Rebellion, a fresh take on Henry VI: Part Two, said, “out of the 37 plays in the canon Henry VI Part Two—or as we are calling it Henry VI: Rebellion—has more characters than any other play. There are 85 characters on the cast list which may explain why these plays are rarely done. One of the reasons for this wide array of characters is a series of scenes that Shakespeare writes concerning the people of England who in various ways interact with the royal family.
“This gave us an idea. For many years, the RSC has built incredible relationships across the UK with partner theatres through Shakespeare Nation and our youth programme, Next Generation Act. After 18 months of developing these links online, this production seemed the perfect opportunity to be ambitious.
“So for the people of England, we’ve cast the people of England. This is an extremely exciting project as it allows this history play, written more than 400 years ago, to respond directly to the state of the nation—and at points put over 50 people on the RSC stage.
“Another drive that is very close to the heart of the RSC is the training of young actors as they enter the industry. For these productions, we met more than 100 graduates from across the country to deliver workshops and fight training, and from this have cast nine graduates into our company of 26 for the two plays.”
Mark Quartley and RSC associate artist Mariah Gale will return to play Henry VI and Margaret in both plays.
The professional cast for Henry VI: Rebellion includes Oliver Alvin-Wilson (York), Lucy Benjamin (Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester), Richard Cant (Gloucester / Lord Saye), Daniel J Carver (Clifford / Horner), Angelina Chudi (Hume), Paola Dionisotti (Winchester / Humphrey), Felixe Forde (Bevis), Ashley D Gayle (Smith), Conor Glean (Dick), Ben Hall (Suffolk), Jack Humphrey (clerk), Nicholas Karimi (Warwick), Al Maxwell (Bolingbroke / Holland), Georgia-Mae Myers (Margaret Jourdain), Peter Moreton (Salisbury), Sophia Papadopoulos (Suffolk’s messenger), Aaron Sidwell (Jack Cade), Yasmin Taheri (neighbour), John Tate (captain / Stafford), Ibraheem Toure (Whitmore), Emma Tracey (spirit), Daniel Ward (Buckingham) and Benjamin Westerby (Somerset).
The nine graduates making their RSC debuts are Felixe Forde (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 2020), Jack Humphrey (National Youth Theatre, 2021), Al Maxwell (Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, 2020), Georgia-Mae Myers (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, 2021), Sophia Papadopoulos (LAMDA, 2021), John Tate (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, 2020), Ibraheem Toure (East 15, 2021), Emma Tracey (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, 2020) and Benjamin Westerby (RADA, 2021).
Seventy-four adults from Blackpool, Bradford, Canterbury, Cornwall, Norwich and Nottingham will appear alongside the professional cast in Henry VI: Rebellion.
They will be joined by 21 young people, split into three groups, from the RSC’s young acting company Next Generation Act. Aged between 13 and 17, they are drawn from the RSC’s nationwide network of 222 associate schools, all with a talent for acting but from backgrounds that might restrict their chances of getting into the profession.
The young people come from Barrow-in-Furness, Birmingham, Blackpool, Bradford, Canterbury, County Durham, Hull, Launceston (Cornwall), London, Middlesbrough, Northampton, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent and York.
Arthur Hughes will join the cast as Richard, Duke of Gloucester in Wars of the Roses.
Henry VI: Rebellion, directed by Horsley and Gregory Doran, will run in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford from Friday 1 April until Saturday 28 May. Wars of the Roses, directed by Horsley, will run from 1 April until Saturday 4 June.