Broadway, get ready for a double dose of Mark Rylance – Shakespeare double bill en route

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Broadway will get a double dose of Mark Rylance this winter — the two-time Tony Award-winning English actor will alternate between starring in “Twelfth Night” and “Richard III.”

Producers said Thursday that the Shakespeare’s Globe productions of both Shakespeare plays will transfer from the West End to the Belasco Theatre starting Oct. 15.

The shows are performed by an all-male cast and seek to replicate how the plays would have been produced in Shakespeare’s day. Live musicians and candlelight will be featured and the actors will dress and apply make-up on the stage before the shows.

Stephen Fry will make his Broadway acting debut as Malvolio in “Twelfth Night” and Tony-nominee Samuel Barnett will appear as Viola in “Twelfth Night” and Queen Elizabeth in “Richard III.” Tim Carroll directs both works.

The 16-week run will open Nov. 10. Producers said over 20,000 tickets priced at just $25 will be made available throughout the run. Full casting for both productions will be announced in coming weeks.

Rylance, who won Tonys for “Jerusalem” and “Boeing-Boeing,” will play the love-struck noblewoman Olivia in “Twelfth Night” and the scheming usurper of the title in “Richard III.”

Rylance, a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company, was the former longtime artistic director of Shakespeare’s Globe, the open-air London playhouse where the two plays were first mounted last summer. It will be the first time American audiences will get to see Rylance perform Shakespeare.

___

Online: www.ShakespeareBroadway.com