Rising British star Ruby Stokes is set to mark her Royal Shakespeare Company debut and has joined Kenneth Branagh in its upcoming production of “The Tempest.”
Stokes — a “Bridgerton” alum recently seen in George Jacques’s Berlin-bowing “Sunny Dancer” — is set to star in the lead role of Miranda opposite Branagh’s Prospero. Other additions to the cast of the play — being directed by Richard Eyre — include Fred Woodley Evans as Ferdinand, Amara Okereke as Ariel and Ashley Zhangazha as Caliban.
The production is set run at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford from May 13 to June 20.
The classic follows Prospero, an exiled duke who conjures a storm to exact revenge on those who wronged him, only to confront the possibility of forgiveness — while his daughter Miranda discovers love for the first time.
“The play remains endlessly fascinating — I see it as Shakespeare’s autobiography, a meditation on art and freedom,” said Eyre. “Of course, there are themes of power, belonging, and colonisation that have long invited new readings and responses. ‘The Tempest’ is a story shaped by encounters between cultures and systems of power, a story of revenge and magic, and I am thrilled to be working with such an incredible company to tell this story.”
Stokes’ RSC debut comes following her recently completed lead read role on stage in the New York edition of Alexander Zeldin’s “The Other Place.” Other recent screen work includes lead roles in Netflix’s untitled Newfoundland-set limited series opposite Josh Hartnett, in addition to appearances in Celyn Jones’ “Madfabulous” and Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly.”
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