Dame Harriet Walter to star in all-female production of Julius Caesar for RSC

Succession star Dame Harriet Walter will star in an all-female production of Julius Caesar for the Royal Shakespeare Company, while Frozen actor Jonathan Groff will lead an all-male cast in As You Like It, it has been announced.

Dame Harriet will play Brutus in the revival of Phyllida Lloyd’s 2012 production, which follows a group of female prisoners who choose to perform Shakespeare’s play to express their preoccupations with freedom and justice.

The production will tour schools across England for five weeks this autumn, followed by post-show discussions with cast, creatives, young people and guest speakers from local communities and members of the criminal justice system to discuss how the 400-year-old text connects with the world today.

After this, the production will visit The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon for a run in November.

Groff, best known as the voice of Kristoff in Frozen, as well as roles in Glee and Mindhunter, will make his RSC debut to play Rosalind in the new production of As You Like It.

Heartstopper actor Fisayo Akinade will take on the role of Celia.

Groff said: “In 2019, I went to Stratford-upon-Avon for the first time to take in the historic town and see a gender-swapped production of The Taming Of The Shrew.

“The experience of seeing Shakespeare performed so brilliantly in Stratford hit me in a very primal way.

“Since that stirring experience in Stratford, I’ve spent the last six years doing mostly theatre in New York.

“I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to come back to Stratford and perform Shakespeare for the first time in my life. The early prep work I’ve been digging into with Daniel (Evans, the director) and Patsy Rodenburg, their emeritus director of voice, has already got me in a state of ecstasy.”

Director Daniel Evans said: “Jonathan has a rare ability to connect deeply with an audience. His generosity, his emotional availability and his total commitment are exactly the qualities I wanted for our Rosalind.

“In our production of As You Like It, where Jonathan will be joined by the wonderful Fisayo Akinade as Celia, I hope to give audiences an opportunity to experience Shakespeare’s most sweet-tempered comedy in a way which is playful and joyful, and which inspires conversation about our world now.

“Ultimately, this is a play which celebrates love in all of its many forms. Love is love and, however we identify, it falls where it falls. I can’t wait for us to share it with audiences.”

As You Like It will run from September 26 to November 7.

Julius Caesar will tour schools from September 21 – October 23 before performances at The Other Place from November 5 to 28.

Dame Harriet said: “Shakespeare’s characters and themes stretch our empathy and imagination back through the centuries.

“His plays show us human beings who we are and who we continue to be, even after more than 400 years.

“By taking Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female Julius Caesar into the heart of schools and communities across England, we hope that young people from all social backgrounds will have the opportunity to engage with the themes of the play on their own terms.

“I have seen children’s confidence grow in front of my eyes when they start to own a speech or a character from a Shakespeare play. They seem to say ‘Now I get it.  I’m included and I have the key to the door. I have a voice and my voice matters’.

“In an increasingly polarised world, it is more important than ever to equip young people with the ability to express their own creative ideas with confidence, agency and individuality and to explore the rich vocabulary Shakespeare has given the world.”