Daphne sketch performer to star at Shakespeare's Globe

He’s known for comedy fans as one third of  sketch group Daphne, alongside Phil Wang and Jason Forbes.

But now George Foreacres is to play Hamlet at Shakepeare’s Globe Theatre in London, starting next week.

The Black Country-born comic and actor will take on one of the Bard’s most challenging and significant roles when the play opens at the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

He was previously part of the company who reopened the Globe on London’s South Bank last summer after the 18 months of closure, performing in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Twelfth Night in front of socially distanced audiences.

As well has his role in Daphne – who had their own Radio 4 series after being nominated as best newcomers in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2015 – Foreacres made his solo stand-up debut at the 2019 Fringe.

He is the voice of Prince Harry and others on Spitting Image, played Charlie in Raised By Wolves on Channel 4  and made his US TV debut in 2019 as the villainous Hugh Cabot in ABC’s Whiskey Cavalier.

His other dramatic stage credits include another run of Midsummer Night’s Dream at Lyric Hammersmith and a Dot by Dot Theatre production of Doctor  Faustus.

When he was cast as Hamlet, Foreacres posted: ‘Relieved to finally let this great Shakespearean moggy out of its hempen sack.

‘Privileged, honoured and gobsmacked to be joining the Globe Ensemble 2022, kicking off with playing this Danish fella who loves skulls and ghosts and talking by himself for ages.

‘And yes, I will be doing it in my own accent, so get your Yamlet/Yam-yamlet jokes in now.’

Hamlet’s opening night is on Thursday February 3, with previews from January 21, and it runs until  April 9.

Published: 14 Jan 2022