STEPHEN FRY BACK ON STAGE AT THE GLOBE THEATRE
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London Theatre Direct
Stephen Fry will appear in Twelfth Night at the Globe Theatre in London from 22nd September to 14th October as part of the Globe's "The Play's The Thing" season. He will star opposite Jerusalem star Mark Rylance in Tim Carroll's revival.
In an all male cast, Stephen Fry takes on the role of Malvolio opposite Mark Rylance as Lady Olivia and are joined by Liam Brennan as Orsino and Peter Hamilton Dyer as Feste together with Colin Hurley as Sir Toby Belch, Samuel Barnett as Sebastian and Johnny Flynn as Viola.
It will be Stephen Fry's first major theatre role since his short lived West End role in 1995, when he departed from Simon Gray's Cell Mates and disappeared to Belgium. Since then he has written about his fight with depression and dealing with his bi-polar disorder.
He has since taken to the stage for brief one off appearances including on stage in 2007 in a version of Cinderella starring Pauline Collins and Sandi Toksvig produced by the Old Vic. He also took part in a one-night performance of Patrick Barlow's Star Child at the Almeida Theatre in December 2010. Last Christmas he leant his voice, alongside Alan Davies, to the Lyric Hammersmith's pantomime Dick Whittington and his Cat. However, he has mostly been seen on tv hosting panel quiz QI, various documentaries and with appearances in movies including the newest Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. Last Sunday, he was in his usual loquacious form hosting the BAFTA film awards at the Royal Opera House.
Mark Rylance is a former artistic director at the Globe Theatre from 1995 to 2005, but his star has abounded since starring in the production of Jerusalem that recently enjoyed a second sell out run in the West End after it's Broadway transfer, which garnered Rylance a Best Actor Tony award. In this year's Globe season he will also star as Richard III which runs from July.
Carroll's production of Twelfth Night reunites the creative team behind the original 2002 staging with design by Jenny Tiramani and music by Claire van Kampen. Their "original practices" approach to staging employs techniques used in Shakespeare’s day to recreate clothing, music and dance, a practice which Mark Rylance became most known for during his tenure.
It has not been confirmed that there will be a West End transfer of either of the Globe productions but rumours are already abounding so keeping checking here for the last news!
[posted by Louise 16/02/2012]