Now entering it’s 33rd Year, Stafford has been producing a Shakespeare production during the summer. It’s venue in recent years has changed and this year again, Stafford Gatehouse will house the 2024 production Twelth Night.

With only four weeks to go until opening night, let’s roundup what we know so far:

The Cast

Headlining the company will be Sean Walsh, making his professional debut in a Shakespeare production as Malvolio. Joining him will be Natalie Anderson as Olivia alongside Molly Windsor as Viola

Andre Bullock will be stepping into the role of Antonio and Benedict Landsbert-Noon will be in the role of Sebastian. Callum Sim will play Andrew Aguecheek, with Liz Jadav also joining the company  to play Maria. Bob Golding will play the role of Sir Toby Belch. Concluding the acting company is Peter Watts as and Sha Dessi as Feste.

The Music

This year, music returns to the heart of Stafford Shakespeare as Lucinda Freeburn and Sam Lightfoot-Loftus will return to the company. They will be joined by Loris Scarpa, who together are from a London-bfolk band, The Evolution of Fishermen. They will not only provide originally composed folk music throughout the show with a nod to cornish folk song, but every night they will perform a 20 minute pre-show set to get audiences into the mood for arguably Shakespeare’s funniest play.

You can catch a snippet of one of their recent releases ‘The Lark’ below:

The Production

Sean Turner returns to direct this year’s production. He has promised this summer production will be relocated to a close-knit fishing village.

In addition, for this year, a partnership between the Gatehouse and Ocean Recovery has been created. The partnership means that items recovered from the coast of Devon and Cornwall have been given to the Gatehouse so they can incorporate a number of authentic items into their set and front of house areas. After that, they will be sent for recycling.

I can also exclusively  reveal that part of the set will be a revolving stage involving the Seafront Pub. The revolving element will mean that both the inside and out of the pub seemlessly can be shown to audiences.

The rest of the set is currently kept firmly under wraps, but it won’t be long until opening night when all will be revealed.

For more info and tickets visit here:  https://www.gatehousetheatre.co.uk/whatson-event/twelfth-night-a-cornish-tale/#schedules