BRANAGH THEATHRE LIVE – The first season of the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company Live promises an exceptional series of plays broadcast to cinemas from London’s Garrick Theatre over the course of a year.

Romeo and Juliet Lily James bigger

Cinderella stars, Lily James and Richard Madden work with director Kenneth Branagh once more in Romeo and Juliet. James will play Juliet and Madden will play Romeo, presenting the tragic tale of the star crossed lovers live on stage at the Garrick Theatre.

Romeo and Juliet runs from 12th May 2016 to the 13th August 2016.

Book your tickets here.

You can book your tickets for “Romeo & Juliet” here.

WHATS ON STAGE – Kenneth Branagh will direct and star in a year-long season of plays at the Garrick Theatre, opening in October with The Winter’s Tale co-starring Judi Dench.

The season, which marks Branagh’s first return to the West End since his acclaimed performance in Michael Grandage’s revival of Ivanov in 2008, will also feature Harlequinade, The Painkiller (with Rob Brydon), Romeo and Juliet (starring Richard Madden and Lily James) and The Entertainer (with Branagh as Archie Rice).

Branagh told WhatsOnStage that all the productions featured in the season – tickets for which go on sale at 9am on Friday (17 April) – have been “long-standing passions”.

“I felt as though a moment was approaching whereby some of this work could come together,” he said. “Finally, Nica Burns, who I worked with many years ago at the Donmar, suggested the Garrick, where we could do both intimate and epic stuff, and it suddenly became possible.”

The season opens with The Winter’s Tale, which runs from 7 November 2015 (previews from 17 October) to 16 January. Branagh will play Leontes with Dench as Paulina.

“The Winter’s Tale has been on my radar since I was 17 when I saw it for the first time and was enchanted,” revealed Branagh, who will co-direct the production with his Macbeth collaborator Rob Ashford.

It marks the latest chapter in a 30-year working relationship with Dench, who was part of his Renaissance Theatre Company in the 1980s,

“It’s such a privilege to be in the room with someone who has the knowledge of the play that she does [Dench starred in a landmark RSC revival in 1969]… and it’s a thrill for me that all our scenes are together,” he added.

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