{"id":663484,"date":"2026-06-28T23:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/663484\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T23:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:59:12","slug":"a-privilege-and-pretty-terrifying-james-norton-to-play-hamlet-in-the-west-end-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/663484\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A privilege \u2013 and pretty terrifying\u2019: James Norton to play Hamlet in the West End | Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Norton is to take on his first major Shakespearean stage role and play Hamlet in the West End<\/a> next year.<\/p>\n

The King & Conqueror<\/a> star said it was a \u201cprivilege\u201d and \u201cpretty terrifying\u201d to be cast as the tragic prince in the acclaimed German director Thomas Ostermeier\u2019s production next autumn. Norton was last on stage in 2023 in the harrowing A Little Life, based on Hanya Yanagihara\u2019s novel, which the actor described as the hardest thing he has ever done.<\/p>\n

\u2018I could not be in better hands\u2019 \u2026 James Norton. Photograph: Poster art by Feast, artwork photography by Bex Day<\/p>\n

Ostermeier first staged his acclaimed version of Hamlet<\/a> in 2008 and it visited London in 2011, with the title role played by Lars Eidinger who prowled among the audience and even snatched a critic\u2019s notepad. The director, who has been based at the Schaub\u00fchne in Berlin since 1999, said: \u201cI am pleased to be revisiting Hamlet for the West End \u2026 It will be my first time directing Shakespeare in English, and I am excited to explore the original text in order to bring this new production to life. My first Hamlet has been touring the world for 18 years so I am honoured to have the opportunity to bring it here to London with James, who in my mind is a perfect Prince of Denmark.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a student at Cambridge University in 2006, Norton played Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, staged by Robert Icke. The following year, Norton was Posthumus in a production of Shakespeare\u2019s Cymbeline at Cambridge Arts theatre, directed by Trevor Nunn for the Marlowe Society. In 2016, Norton starred as Richard II in a short film, part of the Complete Walk series for Shakespeare\u2019s Globe which played for free at locations along the banks of the Thames in London to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Known for a radical and bold approach to the classics, Ostermeier recently had two star-powered hits in London: The Seagull led by Cate Blanchett<\/a> and An Enemy of the People with Matt Smith<\/a>. Norton praised the intriguing and challenging nature of the director\u2019s work. \u201cIt\u2019s a privilege for anyone to take on the role of Hamlet,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s also pretty terrifying! But with Thomas Ostermeier at the helm, I know I could not be in better hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamlet is produced by Wessex Grove and Gavin Kalin Productions. Its venue, dates and further casting details are yet to be announced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Norton is to take on his first major Shakespearean stage role and play Hamlet in the West…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-663484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}