Ella Hickson to premiere play at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Ella Hickson will premiere a new play at Shakespeare’s Globe later this year, directed by Natalie Abrahami.

Swive [Elizabeth] “interrogates the power of sex in gaining and maintaining control in a patriarchy”, and is set during the reign of Elizabeth I.

The production will form part of the Globe’s 2019/20 Sam Wanamaker Playhouse season, which also includes a family Christmas show written and directed by Sandi and Jenifer Toksvig called Christmas at the (Snow) Globe.

The season opens in November with Henry VI and Richard III, co-directed by Sean Holmes and Ilinca Radulian and performed by the Globe Ensemble.

The two history plays are joined in the season by one other Shakespeare – The Taming of the Shrew – which opens in February and will feature an ensemble cast comprising artistic director Michelle Terry, Lila Clements, Mattia Mariotti and Melissa Riggall.

It will be directed by Maria Gaitanidi, and will run in repertory with Thomas Middleton’s Women Beware Women, directed by Amy Hodge.

Special events in the season include a series of ghost stories, featuring a new story by Jeanette Winterson, and a double bill reading of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas on November 28 to mark the centenary since the removal of the sex disqualification act and Nancy Astor becoming the first female MP.

Season at a glance

Henry VI by William Shakespeare
Directed by Sean Holmes and Ilinca Radulian
November 5 to January 26, press night November 21

Richard III by William Shakespeare
Directed by Sean Holmes and Ilinca Radulian
November 13 to January 26, press night November 21

Swive [Elizabeth] by Ella Hickson
Directed by Natalie Abrahami
December 6 to February 15, press night on December 12

Christmas at the (Snow) Globe by Sandi and Jenifer Toksvig
December 19 to 23, press night on December 19

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
Directed by Maria Gaitanidi
February 1 to April 18, press night on February 6

Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton
Directed by Amy Hodge
February 21 to April 18, press night on February 27