Alan Ayckbourn, Cate Blanchett, Mark Rylance, et al. Set for the London 2012 Festival

The London 2012 Festival has announced additional programming, according to the website for the UK magazine, The Stage. The festival will run from June 21, 2012 until the last day of the London 2012 Paralympic Games on September 9, 2012.

Among the newly announced performers is two-time Tony Award winner Mark Rylance, who will be among the actors giving “pop-up performances” of Shakespeare sonnets and speeches around London. Alan Ayckbourn will write and direct a new play for the festival, and a revival of one of his plays will also be presented.

Handspring Puppet Company, which won a special Tony for their work on War Horse, will be creating a new show based on Ted Hughes’ series of poems about Crow. There will also be a special performance of West End Live including casts from all of Theatreland’s musicals performing in Trafalgar Square.

These presentations join previously reported events, which include Cate Blanchett starring in a production of Martin Crimp’s new adaptation of Botho Strauss’ Gross und Klein; Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach; a new opera from Damon Albarn, Rufus Norris, and Jamie Hewlett; and more.

In conjunction with the Olympiad events, there will also be the first annual Happy Days, the Enniskillen International Beckett Festival, dedicated to the works of Samuel Beckett, to run August 24-27. Among the highlights will be a new production of Krapp’s Last Tape directed and performed by Robert Wilson.