Samuel West puts on the yellow stockings to play Malvolio in Twelfth night as early casting announced for RSC Christmas shows
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas with some exciting initial casting announced this week for the RSC’s forthcoming productions of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and The Red Shoes.
Twelfth Night will run in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 5th December to 18th January 2025, and is directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah.
Samuel West will play Malvolio alongside Gwyneth Keyworth in her RSC debut as Viola, with further cast to be announced later this month.
Amongst Samuel’s well-known credits are the Channel 5 remake of All Creatures Great and Small, Apple TV’s Slow Horses and Darkest Hour. He returns to the RSC, having last performed here as the title roles in Steven Pimlott’s Richard II (2000) and Hamlet (2001).
Gwyneth Keyworth, who has appeared in Black Mirror, Game of Thrones and Alex Rider, is perhaps best known for her role as Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird at the Gielgud Theatre.
Meanwhile filling the ballet points of The Red Shoes at the Swan Theatre, from 7th November to 19th January 2025, is Nikki Cheung, who is making her RSC debut as Karen in Hans Christian Andersen’s tale in a new version by Nancy Harris, with direction and movement by Kimberley Rampersad (associate artistic director of the Shaw Festival, Canada).