The Royal Shakespeare Company has cast Sharon D. Clarke in the title role of “Othello,” with Monique Touko directing a production that relocates Shakespeare’s tragedy to a climate-threatened future and places a Black lesbian in the seat of military power at its center.
The production opens in the Swan Theatre on Feb. 13, 2027 and runs through April 3.
Clarke, who has won the Olivier Award three times, makes her RSC debut in the role. Touko’s production centers on an unsanctioned marriage that becomes the fault line through which jealousy, suspicion and racial, sexual and class prejudice enter. The production incorporates movement and music.
The announcement forms part of the RSC’s 2026–27 season reveal from co-artistic directors Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey, who also confirmed that Rufus Norris will direct the company for the first time. Norris helms the world premiere of “Brock’s Mill,” a new play by RSC writer-in-residence Stewart Pringle, opening in The Other Place on March 26, 2027 and running through May 8. The drama follows Bernard, a retired stop-motion animator whose account of his own professional past begins to fracture four decades on from his career at Bluebell Studios. Animation for the production is by Astrid Goldsmith.
“We want to ensure that as many people as possible feel welcome at the RSC through the stories we choose to tell and the artists who tell them,” Evans and Harvey said in a joint statement.
The season also marks the RSC’s first commission for early-years audiences: a stage adaptation of David Litchfield’s children’s book “The Bear and the Piano,” adapted by Toby Olié and Tom Brady and made in co-production with Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Brought to life through puppetry and music without dialogue, the production is designed for ages three and above and premieres in The Other Place on Dec. 11, 2026, running through Jan. 10, 2027.
The RSC also confirmed a series of appointments. Martin Lowe – whose awards for “Once” include the Tony, Grammy and Olivier – joins as music associate. Paula Stephens takes up the role of head of voice. Emily Burns and Ryan Day have been named associate directors, joining Elizabeth Freestone in that capacity.
The season’s previously announced productions include “Game of Thrones: The Mad King,” adapted by Duncan Macmillan and directed by Dominic Cooke; “As You Like It” directed by Evans with an all-male cast led by Jonathan Groff; Nina Raine’s “Middlemarch” directed by Jeremy Herrin; and Phyllida Lloyd’s revival of her 2012 Donmar Warehouse “Julius Caesar” with Harriet Walter.
The RSC also revealed that Blanche McIntyre’s production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” will tour RSC associate regional theaters across England in spring 2028, opening at Blackpool Grand Theatre before visiting Newcastle Theatre Royal, Bradford Theatres, Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall Nottingham, York Theatre Royal, Hall for Cornwall and Marlowe Theatre Canterbury.
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