Irish actress Ruth Negga to play Hamlet in new Gate Theatre production
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Irish actress Ruth Negga to play Hamlet in new Gate Theatre production

OSCAR-NOMINATED actress Ruth Negga will play Hamlet in a new production at Dublin’s Gate Theatre.

The Limerick native will play the title role in the upcoming production of Shakespeare’s classic, which will be directed by Yael Farber.

Hamlet will start previews from 21st September.

The Irish-Ethiopian is one of our most successful acting exports in recent years, earning an Oscar-nomination for her role in Loving.

Negga will be no stranger to the script, having starred as Ophelia in the Royal National Theatre production in 2010 in London.

Director Yael Farber described Negga as a ‘Hamlet of our times’.

“Ruth Negga’s profound gifts as an artist, combined with her meticulously observed and felt sense of the world around her, hold the promise for a Hamlet I believe most needed now,” Farber said.

“If this is to be a Hamlet that can speak such words and ‘hold up the mirror’ to these extraordinary times, it is a Hamlet that requires an artist of the immense complexity and depth of understanding that I believe Ruth has to bring to this extraordinary text.

“The dilemma ‘to be or not to be’ has held us in its thrall for centuries – and has never seemed more potent and urgent. A Hamlet for our time.”

Negga will be joined by some of Ireland’s finest actors including Fiona Bell, Gavin Drea, Nick Dunning , Aoife Duffin, Mark Huberman, Gerard Kelly, Conor Madden, Barry McKiernan, Owen Roe and Gerard Walsh.