Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole and Shakespeare’s Globe welcomes back multi award-winning actor Mark Rylance to perform in its 2012 Theatre Season The Play’s The Thing. This will be the first time that Rylance has appeared on the Globe stage since his tenure as Artistic Director between 1995 and 2005.

The main theatre season, which begins on 7 June 2012, follows hot on the heels of the ambitious Globe to Globe festival. Launching with Dominic Dromgoole’s new production of Henry V, the season will see Rylance – currently performing in Jerusalem in the West End – take on two of Shakespeare’s major characters – the title role in a new production of Richard III and a reprisal of his widely celebrated performance of Olivia in Twelfth Night, 10 years after its original premiere; both of which will be staged as ‘original practices’ productions.

The Globe’s main house programme is completed by a new production of The Taming of the Shrew. Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole commented: “It was the Globe's greatest stroke of good fortune to have Mark as its first Artistic Director – an actor of great distinction, and a leader of rare imagination. No-one has contributed more to the success of the Globe than Mark, and we all – actors, artists and audiences – play happily within the conditions he created.

It is our further great good luck that he is returning, with his Original Practices team, to play in the Globe again. It will be a fitting climax to an extraordinary summer which begins with our unprecedented Globe to Globe festival.”

Richard III and Twelfth Night will be directed by Tim Carroll, designed by Jenny Tiramani with music by Claire van Kampen – the creative team behind the original 2002 version of Twelfth Night. Performed in rep by an all male cast – many of whom will be new to these 2012 productions – the original practices approach to staging will employ recreated clothing, music and dance. Twelfth Night and Richard III will be a co-production between Shakespeare’s Globe, Sonia Friedman Productions and Shakespeare Road.

The play which opened the first and the current Globe, Henry V, will close the Globe to Globe Festival and launch the main 2012 theatre season in June. In continuation of the 2010 productions of Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Henry V will be directed by Artistic Director Dominic Dromgoole with Jamie Parker in the title role. Much loved for his performance as Prince Hal two years ago, Parker returns to the character, once known for his wild and youthful antics with Falstaff, to chart his journey into a mature man embarking on a successful conquest of France.

Completing the in-house 2012 theatre season will be a new production of The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare’s most outrageous comedy, directed by Toby Frow. Following the Globe’s success at the recent Theatre Awards UK, at which it picked up the Renee Stepham Award for Best Presentation of Touring Theatre, the Globe is pleased to be touring four productions in 2012.

Anne Boleyn, which achieved 98% of full capacity attendance at the Globe this summer and received the 2011 Whatsonstage Award for Best New Play, will visit Cambridge, Birmingham, Blackpool, Brighton, Truro, Darlington, Malvern, Bath and Edinburgh between March and May 2012, in partnership with English Touring Theatre and supported by Arts Council England. Before its arrival at the Globe, Dominic Dromgoole’s production of Henry V will visit Liverpool, Cardiff, Oxford, Bath, Cambridge and Salisbury between April and June 2012. The Globe will continue its popular tradition of small-scale touring with revivals of its 2011 productions of Hamlet and As You Like It.

These two tours, which operate without the assistance of public subsidy, will visit beautiful open-air settings across the UK and Europe throughout the summer.

This announcement follows the unprecedented success of the 2011 The Word is God season, which achieved 89% of full capacity across the season. Four of the productions from the previous year’s Kings and Rogues season appeared in cinemas worldwide, and three of the 2011 productions – Much Ado About Nothing, All’s Well That Ends Well and Doctor Faustus – were filmed, to continue this commitment to distribute through cinemas, television, DVD and online in future. During 2011, over 143,700 £5 groundling tickets were bought – a significant achievement for a company that still operates without public subsidy.

The 2012 theatre season follows immediately after Globe to Globe, a multi-lingual Shakespeare project that forms part of the World Shakespeare Festival for the London 2012 Festival. Over the course of six weeks, beginning on Shakespeare’s birthday, 23 April 2012, the Globe will present all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays, each in a different language, each by a different company from around the world. Booking for Globe to Globe is now open. For tickets, telephone 020 7401 9919 or log-on to www.shakespearesglobe.com.

Listings

English Touring Theatre presents the Shakespeare’s Globe production of Anne Boleyn

Supported by Arts Council England

Touring March-May 2012

Cambridge Arts Theatre                        15-17 March      

New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham      20-24 March

Grand Theatre Blackpool                      27-31 March

Theatre Royal Brighton                         3-7 April

Hall for Cornwall, Truro                         10-14 April

Darlington Civic Theatre                        17-21 April

Malvern Theatres                                  24-28 April

Theatre Royal Bath                               1-5 May

Festival Theatre, Edinburgh                   8-12 May

Shakespeare's Globe in association with Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse present Henry V

Touring April-June 2012

Liverpool Playhouse                             12 – 28 April

New Theatre, Cardiff                             1 – 5 May                                                                                      

Oxford Playhouse                                8 – 12 May

Cambridge Arts Theatre                        15 – 19 May

Theatre Royal Bath                               22 – 26 May

Salisbury International Arts Theatre

(Salisbury Playhouse)                           29 May – 2 June

The final stage of the Festival “A Film for Peace” 2011 The International Festival “A Film for Peace” is very young - just six years old. Despite its young age, thanks to the passion and commitment of the municipality of Medea and the Windcloak Film Production, with the support of the province of Gorizia and of the Foundation Cassa di Risparmio of Gorizia, this event crossed the national frontiers and become in a short time one of the biggest festivals on human rights in the world, with 34 participating countries from all five continents.

Based on the conception and design of the artistic director and anthropologist Enrico Cammarata, the festival has received the support and coordination of Alberto Bergamin, Mayor of Medea. The great challenge of the Sixth Edition 2011 was to establish a special award for the topic of disarmament for which the screening and award ceremony was scheduled to take place at the prestigious British Museum in London.

The event received the support of the regional councilor for productive activities of the Friuli Venezia Giulia-TurismoFVG. The award ceremony in London was organized in collaboration with Sagitter One and London Adv. Thanks to the efforts of the Foundation Cassa di Risparmio of Gorizia, who has always showed sensitivity to the culture of the Friuli Venezia Giulia, the event was held on October 27, in the biggest temple of the world’s culture: the British Museum. The program opened with the screening of a videoart lasting two minutes. The short film produced by the festival showed a girl striving to draw a symbol of disarmament and peace. With an unexpected gesture, the protagonist covered the soldiers (war vehicle) with a sheet of paper containing the drawing of the symbol of disarmament that she has just created.

The message is one of optimism, the hope that maybe, one day, the reasoning and the best part of humanity will erase the war forever. This short videoart was followed by the greetings of the Coordinator of the festival, Alberto Bergamin, the Mayor of Medea, and the presentation of some of the cities and of the typical products of Friuli Venezia Giulia the region, products that the public could enjoy after the festival. The day continued with an interesting report on disarmament by Dr. Marco Roscini, Reader in International Law, University of Westminster.

Enrico Cammarata followed up with a speech about the festival and the cinema from an anthropological point of view. After the screening of the film “Daisy Cutter” by Spanish directors Enrique García and Rubén Salazar, which received the Absolute Award at the festival of Medea on July 4, it was screened the winner of the Special Award for the Best Film on disarmament, entitled “Wardisease” by French director Marie Magescas, who received from Alberto Bergamin a framed scroll (parchment). The French director received also a photographic work in black and white printed on baryta paper on the issue of disarmament, signed by Bon & Cammarata, who have also exhibited a series of photographs in black and white (on baryta paper) on the topic of human rights in the foyer of Stevenson Theatre Hall of British Museum.

“Daisy Cutter” is an animation film that shows the destructive power of the Blue-82 bomb: the most destructive conventional bomb with its 7000 pounds of explosives. The documentary “Wardisease” belongs to the genre of film editing and shows in just eight minutes the horror of war. They are images that help us reflect upon the human condition, which was capable of great things such as inventions, scientific discoveries, solidarity, but also of terrible things such as genocide, and violence beyond comprehension. Love and hate: two characters of human nature and the pillars of the psyche as defined by Sigmund Freud.

After the London experience, the 2012 edition of the festival will present other original works of interest, which will promote the collaboration between Italian and foreign universities in order to introduce to the new generations important issues leading to the building of peace between nations.

Winner of the Special Prize for Best Film on Disarmament

The International Film Festival “A Film for Peace” was organized by the city of Medea, the Provinceof Gorizia and the association Windcloak Film Production.

The Festival aims to promote humanrights issues and does so by proposing films selected annually from all over the world to thescrutiny of a series of juries consisting mainly of high school and university students from FriuliVenezia Giulia (Italy).

Starting this year, we want to invite to participate in this event those who do not live in our country,and to meet them in a prestigious place of great cultural value - the British Museum in London;not only that, but we would also like to hear the voices of those who want to send us their shortpersonal message of peace that will be consequently printed indelibly in the annual catalogue ofthe International Festival “A Film for Peace” 2011.

This event to be held October 27 will entail in principal the screening and award ceremony forthe best films on the theme of disarmament: the final stage of the sixth edition of the Festival “AFilm for Peace”.Admission is free, but seats are reserved. If you wish to attend the event, please send an e-mail(by October 15) to the Festival organization ( info@windcloak.it ) including your name and surnamein order to confirm your presence.

After we receive your request, the organization will sendyou the official invitation to the event.We are waiting for you at the British Museum in London October 27, and do not forget to bringyour message of peace!

Program

Hours 5:30 pm Presentation of the Festival by the Mayorof Medea, Alberto BergaminScreening of the winner of the Festival “AFilm for Peace 2011”: Daisy Cutter by EnriqueGarcìa and Rubén Salazar, Spain,2010

Hours 7:00 pmSpeech “A zone free of weapons of massdestruction in the Middle East: problemsand prospects” by Dr. Mark Roscini,Reader in International Law, University ofWestminsterSpeech on this topic by Enrico Cammarata,the Artistic Director of the FestivalScreening of the winner of the SpecialPrize for Best Film on Disarmament - FilmFestival “A Film for Peace 2011”: WARdiseaseby Marie Magescas, France, 2010Awards CeremonyReading of the peace messages

Hour 8:00 pmRefreshments

This week sees the re-run of an updated 'Mirror Mirror' at The Pentameters Theatre,premiered in 2008, now further extended for another two weeks. So what's all the fussabout? Léonie, the sequined doyenne of Pentameters, welcomes the audience with acolourful introduction to 1960s London - the bedsits, pub culture, lost souls: nourished withpoetry and peppered with art. She portrays Robert Calvert as a gifted poet, inventiveplaywright and personal friend; as well, of course, as one-time frontman of the spacerockband Hawkwind.

And with a flourish of her gloved hand, the play begins.It's a brilliant and simple concept. Through a two-way mirror the audience looks in at thefuture, or Robert Calvert's 1979 version of the future; while simultaneously the playerspeer out for approval.

Eleanor (Eva Gray) instantly engages the audience in her world, asshe glides around the front room of her glamorous apartment, preparing for a party. Herpreening and pouting in front of her 'intelligent' mirror and grimaces when she seeswrinkles and sags, make thrilled voyeurs of her audience. Her mirror is supposed to reflecthow her husband sees her - but surely there must be a technical fault?A thoughtful set and careful direction make the small theatre space seem large, creatingthe scene of a well-to-do airy apartment with ease.

Electronic music is one of thehighlights, used not only to set the scene but also as a descriptor of mood and even attimes to develop the plot in its own right.

There is a great dynamic between the two actorsand they deliver slick dialogue with plenty of verbal and non-verbal jokes. There's time toofor the odd blast of poetry, delivered in transcendent flashes of strobe lighting, which brilliantly picks out the whites of costume and set, by the Mirror Technician (MarkDonahue).

One of the themes of 'Mirror Mirror' is how other peoples' feedback informs how you seeyourself. According to Eleanor, of course it does and why shouldn't it? A 'neutral' reflectionis terribly boring, after all. In fact she appears, despite the metallic new-age decor aroundher, to live in a rather dated social construct, where her chief role in life is to be foundattractive.

Calvert's wry interpretation of the future suggests that social order and humancharacter are far less changeable than technologies and fashion. His prophecy, discoveredafter decades in a tumble-down-shed: look into a mirror to view our own future.All said, 'Mirror Mirror' is a great find, sympathetically brought to life by Léonie Scott-Matthews and crew. If you're already a regular at Pentameters you'll have seen it by now -if not, this is the perfect introduction to an exciting venue.