Simon Russell Beale, Jonathan Pryce, et al. Set for RSC’s World Shakespeare Festival

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has announced an initial lineup of productions and casting for the World Shakespeare Festival. The event, to be offered as part of the Cultural Olympiad in 2012, will involve over 50 arts organizations and run April 13-September 9.

Among the productions that will be a part of the festival in London will be Timon of Athens, directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Simon Russell Beale, running at the National Theatre; and King Lear, directed by Michael Attenborough and starring Jonathan Pryce, running at the Almeida Theatre.

In addition, Cymbeline, directed by Yukio Ninagawa, and Desdemona, created by Toni Morrison, Malian Rokia Traoré, and Peter Sellars, will both play at the Barbican.

Productions at the RSC’s facilities in Stratford-upon-Avon will include Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Iqbal Khan and starring Meera Syal; Troilus and Cressida, co-produced by the RSC and New York’s The Wooster Group; Two Roses for Richard III, a combination of circus and theater from Brazil’s Companhia BufoMecanica; Tim Crouch’s I, Cinna (The Poet) a piece based on the character from Julius Caesar; and A Midsummer Night’s dream, staged by Russian director Dmitry Krynov.

The Nations at War season will also play the RSC venues in Stratford-upon Avon. The series will be comprised of Luis Mario Moncada’s Richard III, King John and A Soldier in Every Son, plays based on Shakespeare and used to explore the intrigue of 100 years of Aztec civilization.

Other offerings in the World Shakespeare Festival will be seen at such venues as London’s Roundhouse, and Riverside Studios, Dragon Film Studios, Bridgend, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and the Edinburgh International Festival.

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