Warwickshire, 1582. Agnes Hathaway, a natural healer, meets the Latin tutor, William Shakespeare. Drawn together by powerful but hidden impulses, they create a life together and make a family. When the plague steals 11-year-old Hamnet from his loving parents, they must each confront their loss alone. And yet, out of the greatest suffering, something of extraordinary wonder is born. A love letter to passion, birth, grief, and the magic of nature, Hamnet pulls back a curtain on the story of the greatest writer in the English language and the woman who was the constant presence and purpose of his life.
Based on the best-selling novel by Maggie O’Farrell (winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, 2020), adapted by award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi, Red Velvet, Hymn), and directed by Erica Whyman (former acting artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company), Hamnet will feature Kemi-Bo Jacobs as Agnes and Rory Alexander as William.