Hamnet cast and creatives
Reprising their roles from the RSC’s sell-out Stratford-upon-Avon run are Sarah Belcher (Medea) as Joan, Will Brown (Inheritance Blues) as Burbage/Father John, Ajani Cabey (Absolute Scenes) as Hamnet, Frankie Hastings (Our Generation) as Eliza/Customer, Karl Haynes (Warhorse) as Ned, Alex Jarrett (Maryland) as Judith, Madeleine Mantock (Blithe Spirit) as Agnes Hathaway, Hannah McPake (A Christmas Carol) as Jude, Tom Varey (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) as William Shakespeare and Peter Wight (Hamlet) as John/Will Kempe. Haydn Burke and Faye Campbell complete the cast as off-stage understudies.
Adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi) and directed by Erica Whyman (Romeo and Juliet).
The West End production will feature Set and Costume Design by Tom Piper, Lighting by Prema Mehta, Music by Oğuz Kaplangi, Sound Design by Simon Baker, Movement by Ayse Tashkiran, Dramaturgy by Pippa Hill, Fights by Kate Waters and Casting by Amy Ball CDG.
What is Hamnet about?
Hamnet explores one of Shakespeare’s most powerful tragedies: the death of his son. When the plague claims the life of their youngest child, Agnes and William’s lives are torn apart. Seeking comfort, they each fall into their own grief, they absorb themselves in their own emotions. Agnes spirals into a paralysing depression, whilst William, gripped in horrified silence, can no longer find the right words to comfort his devastated wife. No longer the author of his own story, William must navigate a future he could never have scripted. A universal story about family dynamics and the necessary reinvention needed to overcome and make peace with pain. Hamlet is a lyrical and poignant story, set in 16th-century Warwickshire, transcends time and connects with everyone who has ever lost anyone.
About the book
Written by international best-selling author Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet took the world by storm when it hit the bookshelves in 2020. Adored by readers and critics alike, the novel has gone on to sell more than 1.5 million copies worldwide and has been named Waterstones Book of the Year and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Due to Hamnet’s success, Maggie O’Farrell was named the winner of the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction; the UK's most prestigious annual book award celebrating and honouring fiction written by women. The novel was named as the No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller in 2021 and was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and British Book awards ‘Fiction Book of the Year’ in the same year.
Book your tickets to Hamnet today!
Following a sell-out run at Stratford-upon-Avon earlier this year, Maggie O’ Farrell’s poignant tale of parental grief will embark on it’s West End run from 30 September. In the words of the Bard himself 'Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends,' and book your tickets now.