Twelfth Night and Richard III starring Mark Rylance and Stephen Fry open on Broadway

Last night (Sunday 11th November) Twelfth Night and Richard III opened at the Belsaco Theatre on Broadway with a cast led by Mark Rylance and Stephen Fry. Having originally opened at the Globe Theatre during the summer of 2013, Sonia Friedman Productions transferred the double bill to the Apollo Theatre in the West End in November of that year where the productions broke box office records.

Stephen Fry, Sonia Friedman (Producer), Mark Rylance at Gotham Hall at opening night party on Broadway for Twelfth Night and Richard III.

 Now on Broadway, the opening last night was attended by guests including Matthew Broderick, Geoffrey Rush, America Ferrera, Kenneth Lonergan, Terrace McNally and Josh Hamilton. On Broadway, Richard III and Twelfth Night use original Shakespearean practices with on-stage seating as they did both in the West End and at the Globe Theatre.

Two-time Tony Award®-winner Mark Rylance stars as the suddenly love struck noblewoman Olivia in Twelfth Night and as the ruthless and conniving title monarch in Richard III. Twelfth Night and Richard III offer the first opportunity for Broadway audiences to see Mark Rylance performing Shakespeare. 

From his early performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company to his 10 years as the first Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe (1995-2005), critics and audiences have celebrated Rylance for his fresh, hilarious and inventive performances in Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, Two Gentlemen of Verona and As You Like It, among others.

Much loved playwright, screenwriter, actor, writer, poet, journalist, comedian, television personality and national treasure Stephen Fry made his Broadway acting debut as Malvolio in Twelfth Night. Tony Award®-nominee and Drama Desk Award-winner Samuel Barnett (The History Boys) appears as Viola in Twelfth Night and Queen Elizabeth in Richard III.

The productions also feature many members of the acclaimed Shakespeare’s Globe and West End casts, including Liam Brennan, Paul Chahidi, John Paul Connolly, Peter Hamilton Dyer, Colin Hurley and Jethro Skinner. 

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