The award-winning actor’s star-studded twelve month residency at the Garrick Theatre kicks off with The Winter’s Tale
Dame Judi Dench will play Paulina in The Winter’s Tale
Kenneth Branagh, one of Britain’s most admired Shakespeare practitioners, has unveiled plans to bring The Winter’s Tale to the West End.
Shakespeare’s comedy-romance will begin, Branagh’s theatre company’s year-long residency at the Garrick Theatre.
The Winter’s Tale will be co-directed by Kenneth Branagh and his Macbeth collaborator Rob Ashford. The play will see Dame Judi Dench play Paulina and Branagh also perform in the show as Leontes.
A 30-year working relationship
Dame Judi Dench was part of Kenneth Branagh’s Renaissance Theatre Company in the 1980s, and the Dench/Branagh alliance will mark a 30-year anniversary of the two talented British actors working together.
Referring to Dench performing in The Winter’s Tale in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s revival of the play in 1969, Branagh said:
“It’s such a privilege to be in the room with someone who has the knowledge of the play that she does… and it’s a thrill for me that all our scenes are together.”
Immediately enchanted
The actor and director also spoke of how The Winter’s Tale has been on his radar since he was 17 when he first saw the play and was immediately enchanted.
The Winter’s Tale will run alongside a rare revival of Terence Rattigan’s Harlequinade.
Shakespeare’s timeless tragicomedy, thwart with obsession and redemption, is playing at the Garrick Theatre from 17 October 2015 until 16 January 2016.
