Sam West will play Malvolio in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Twelfth Night in Stratford at Christmas 2024.
West’s last appearances at the RSC were in the title roles in Hamlet in 2001 and Richard II in 2000.
Gwyneth Keyworth, who won the WhatsOnStage award for best supporting performer in 2023 for her role as Scout in Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird at the Gielgud Theatre, will make her RSC debut as Viola. Further casting is to be announced.
Prasanna Puwanarajah will direct. James Cotterill will be set and costume designer, Zoe Spurr is lighting designer, George Dennis is sound designer, Polly Bennett is movement director and Matthew Dewsbury CDG is casting director.
Twelfth Night will run in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from Thursday 5 December until Saturday 18 January 2025.
In the Swan Theatre at Stratford, Nikki Cheung will make her RSC debut as Karen in Nancy Harris’s new version of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Red Shoes. Direction and movement will be by Kimberley Rampersad, associate artistic director of the Shaw Festival, Canada.
Dianne Pilkington and James Doherty will make their RSC debuts as Mariella and Bob, the social climbing couple who adopt Karen. Sebastien Torkia will play the priest and the mysterious shoemaker Sylvestor.
The cast also includes Julie Armstrong (ensemble), Leslie Garcia Bowman (onstage swing), Momar Diagne (ensemble), James Doherty (Bob), Joseph Edwards (Clive), Caití Ellen (ensemble), Anya Ferdinand (ensemble), Michael Lin (ensemble), Mia Musakambeva (onstage swing), Kody Mortimer (Prince), Sakuntala Ramanee (Mags), Ben Redfern (ensemble) and Alexandra Waite-Roberts (ensemble).
The creative team also includes Colin Richmond (set and costume designer), Ryan Day (lighting designer), Marc Teitler (composer), Gregory Clarke (sound designer), Paul Kieve (illusionist) and Charlotte Sutton CDG (casting director).
The Red Shoes will run in the Swan Theatre from Thursday 7 November until Sunday 19 January 2025.