Hamnet

'She’s like no one I’ve ever met... She’s like fire and water all at once.'

Experience the Royal Shakespeare Company’s hotly anticipated world premiere production of Maggie O’Farrell’s HAMNET now playing at London’s Garrick Theatre following a sell-out run in Stratford-upon-Avon.

‘Pure theatre gold’ Mail on Sunday

Warwickshire, 1582. Agnes Hathaway, a natural healer, meets the Latin tutor, William Shakespeare. Drawn together by powerful but hidden impulses, they create a life together and make a family. When the plague steals 11-year-old Hamnet from his loving parents, they must each confront their loss alone. And yet, out of the greatest suffering, something of extraordinary wonder is born.

‘Chakrabarti’s tender stage adaptation of O’Farrell’s heartbreaking novel’ Financial Times
‘Madeleine Mantock shines with an otherworldly brightness’ Independent

Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling book and adapted by award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti (Life of Pi, Red Velvet, Hymn), Hamnet pulls back a curtain on the story of the greatest writer in the English language and the woman who was the constant presence and purpose of his life.

Directed by Erica Whyman, with Set Design by Tom Piper, Lighting by Prema Mehta, Sound by Simon Baker, Music by Oğuz Kaplangi, Movement by Ayse Tashkiran, Fights by Kate Waters and Casting by Amy Ball CDG, Hamnet is a love letter to passion, birth, grief and the magic of nature.

Now playing at London’s Garrick Theatre for a limited season until 17 February 2024.