Shakespeare's Globe Unveils Cast & Creative Team for Timberlake Wertenbaker's World Premiere

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Annette Badland, Olivier Huband, and Finbar Lynch lead the ensemble in the ecological drama at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

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Shakespeare's Globe has announced the cast and creative team of The Animals Come to the Table in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, running from 11 December 2026 – 24 January 2027, written by Timberlake Wertenbaker (Our Country's Good), and directed by Anthony Lau (Man and Boy, National Theatre).

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Originally conceived as part of Burnt at the Stake, or the Whole of the Truth (2023) where playwrights were invited to share new work anonymously, The Animals Come to the Table marks the latest in a new writing lineage at the Shakespeare's Globe. By the candlelight of the Playhouse, animals summon humanity to the negotiating table. Waiting for them are an army of voices from the natural world demanding an end to exploitation and ecological destruction.

The cast will comprise Annette Badland as Bea, Rosalind Ford as Ensemble/Cover, Olivier Huband as Pan, Lydia Larson as Maude, Finbar Lynch as Percy, Simon Manyonda as Tony, Tobias Martin-Clarke as Ensemble/Cover, and Alex Young as Anna.

Director Anthony Lau said: 'Timberlake is one of the foremost dramatists of contemporary theatre and has written a searing call to arms that examines our human relationship with the natural world. The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse walks the line between past and present, and there could be no more fitting an area in which to wrestle with what the future holds for us all. Funny, unnerving, and an exercise of the imaginative near future brought to life, it is a real thrill to collaborate with Timberlake on her new play. It is with real excitement that this play is part of Shakespeare's Globe's winter season, and it is testament to both the building and Timberlake's commitment to incendiary drama that entertains and provokes in equal measure.'

The Animals Come to the Table's Assistant Director is Sofia Gallucci, Elliot Griggs is the Candlelight Designer, Asaf Zohar is the Composer, Georgia Lowe is the Designer, and Aline David is the Movement Director with Voice by Adam Wallis.

Annette Badland will play Bea. Her previous work at Shakespeare's Globe includes Burnt at the Stake, Hansel and Gretel, After Edward, Edward II, Eyam, The Winter's Tale. Other theatre credits include: Escaped Alone / What If If Only (Royal Exchange Theatre); The Play What I Wrote ( Theatre Royal Bath ); Our Lady of Blundellsands (Liverpool Everyman); Far Away (Bristol Old Vic); Kin (Royal Court); As You Like It, Romeo & Juliet, Taming of the Shrew, Summerfolk, The Marrying of Ann Leete, Love's Labour's Lost (RSC); Alphabetical Order, Slavs (Hampstead); Blithe Spirit (Royal Exchange); The Golden Hour (Almeida); The Vortex ( Bill Kenwright , West End); Habeas Corpus, Measure for Measure ( Peter Hall Company/RSC); Dr Faustus, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore ( Young Vic ); The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (National Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Haymarket). TV credits include: Ted Lasso, Midsomer Murders, Black Ops, Run Away, Patterns, Heartstopper, DI Ray, Inside No 9, Big Boys, Brassic, Beyond Paradise, Whitstable Pearl, Silent Witness, The Crown, Criminal, Strike: Lethal White, Doctors, Shakespeare and Hathaway, Hold the Sunset, The Dumping Ground, Agatha Raisin, Plebs, Not Going Out, EastEnders, Outlander, The Sparticle Mystery, Wizards vs. Aliens, Aunties, Father Brown, Cutting It, Man Down, Snodgrass, Bad Girls, Land Girls, Little Crackers, Skins, Casanova, Doctor Who, Poirot, Last Days of Summer, and The Naked Civil Servant. Film credits include: The Toxic Avenger, Portraits of Dangerous Women, Sisi and I, Operation Napoleon, The Act, The Man Who Invented Christmas, A Quiet Passion, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Little Voice, Twenty Four Seven, Jabberwocky.

Rosalind Ford is Ensemble/Cover. She is a cellist and multi-instrumental actor-musician and has recorded three audiobooks for Audible. Theatre credits include: The Pianist ( Park Theatre and Mayflower Studio); Lark Rise To Candleford ( Watermill Theatre and Theatre by the Lake); Coven (Kiln Theatre); The Cabinet Minister ( Menier Chocolate Factory ); In Clay (OFFIE 2025 winner - Best Lead Performance in a Musical, Upstairs at the Gatehouse); Miss Littlewood, Boundless as the Sea (RSC/Cunard); The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Southwark Playhouse); The Comedy of Errors (Mercury Theatre); Hamlet (Guildford Shakespeare Company); Once (UK Tour); Gin Craze! (Royal & Derngate); Mother Courage and Her Children (Southwark Playhouse); These Trees Are Made of Blood (Arcola Theatre). Workshop credits include: The Creakers, Flitch (Pinchy Theatre); Coven (Kindred Partners); Lost Souls Club (Mercury Theatre); United We Stand (The Cockpit); John Barleycorn Must Die (Tombola Theatre); The Beauty Parade (Wales Millenium Centre). Recording credits include: The Little Prince (Metta Theatre).

Olivier Huband will play Pan. His previous credits for Shakespeare's Globe include The Tempest, The Duchess of Malfi, and Much Ado About Nothing. Other theatre credits include: A Doll's House ( Almeida Theatre ), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Romans: A Novel ( Almeida Theatre ), Much Ado About Nothing (RSC), Our Country's Good (Lyric Hammersmith), Henry V (Donmar Warehouse); Barefoot in the Park (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Such Filthy F*cks (The Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh) and An Enemy of the People (The Playground Theatre). TV credits include Moonflower Murders (BBC One); This England (Passenger and Revolution Films for Sky); A Discovery of Witches (Bad Wolf for Sky One); Becoming Elizabeth (The Forge for Starz); I Hate Suzie (Bad Wolf for Sky) and Informer (BBC 1/Amazon). Film credits include The Way of the Runner (Potluck Productions) and Mission Impossible: Fallout (Bad Robot for Paramount).

Lydia Larson will play Maude. Theatre credits include: Keith (Kiln Theatre); Welcome to Pemfort (Soho Theatre); The Good John Proctor (Jermyn Street); You Stupid Darkness (Paines Plough); Skin a Cat (Offie Shortlisted Best Actress / Bunker Theatre and tour), Brutal Cessation, Travesty (Assembly Rooms); We have Fallen (Underbelly); The After-Dinner Joke, Springs Eternal (Orange Tree); Persuasion ( Salisbury Playhouse ); 24 Hour Plays (Old Vic); Pride and Prejudice ( Theatre Royal Bath and Number one tour); Arcadia ( Sonia Friedman Productions ) and she performed her debut play Finding Fassbender at Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe and Vault Festival and it received its American premiere at Inis Nua Theatre, Philadelphia. TV and film credits include Dirty Business (Halcyons Heart Films/Channel Four), Safari (My Accomplice), Wool Coat (Purl Works), Father Brown, Call The Midwife, Doctors (BBC), and A Gift From Bob (Studio Pictures).

Finbar Lynch will play Percy. Theatre credits include: The Deep Blue Sea (Haymarket Theatre) Our Country's Good (Lyric Hammersmith), The Tempest (Ustinov Theatre Bath), Richard III (Almeida), Indecent ( Menier Chocolate Factory ), Girl From The North Country (Royal Alexandra Theatre Toronto and Gielgud), The Lady from the Sea (Donmar Warehouse), As You Desire Me (Playhouse Theatre), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (National Theatre), Antigone ( Barbican Centre /World Tour), Desire Under the Elms (Lyric Hammersmith), The Fairy Queen (Glyndebourne/Paris/New York), The Hothouse (National Theatre), Hecuba (Donmar Warehouse); The Birthday Party (Duchess Theatre); Not About Nightingales (National Theatre, Circle in the Square); A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, Measure for Measure, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Alchemist, Amphibians, The Virtuoso, A Woman Killed With Kindness (Royal Shakespeare Company); Antony and Cleopatra (National Theatre); To The Green Fields Beyond, Fool for Love (Donmar Warehouse). TV credits include: The Cadburys, Charlie Bone, Industry, The Regime, Jack Ryan , Devils Silk, The Mallorca Files, The Feed, Treadstone, DCI Banks, Foyle's War, Breathless, Game of Thrones, Inspector George Gently, The Musketeers Proof, Daziel and Pascoe, Waking the Dead, Holby City, The Hollow Crown, Red Cap, Mind Games, Small World, and The Scolds Bridle. Film credits include: Banquet, The Thomas Crown Affair, Jack of Spades, Kapodistrias, Hedda, The York Witches Society, Unwelcome, Richard III, The World We Knew, Black 47 , Property of the State, Suffragette, Child 44, Departure, The Numbers Station, Mathilde, King Lear, and To Kill a King.

Simon Manyonda will play Tony. His theatre credits include Black Comedy (Orange Tree Theatre); Our Country's Good, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Lyric Hammersmith); Word-Play (Royal Court); The Clinic ( Almeida Theatre ); Far Away, The Way of the World (Donmar Warehouse); Actually (Trafalgar Studios); Alys, Always (Bridge Theatre); Barber Shop Chronicles, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, King Lear (National Theatre); King Lear (The Old Vic); Giving, Wildefire (Hampstead Theatre); Romeo and Juliet (Sheffield Theatres); Red Peppers (Old Red Lion); A Midsummer Night's Dreaming (RSC/Brooklyn Academy of Music); Julius Caesar (RSC); All Night I Dream of Being Good (The Yard); The Mamba ( West Yorkshire Playhouse ); Greenland, Welcome to Thebes (Royal National Theatre); Antony and Cleopatra (Liverpool Playhouse). TV credits include The Chelsea Detective Series 4 (UKTV); The Buccaneers Season 2 (Apple TV+); Eric (Netflix); Pennyworth Seasons 2 & 3 (Warner Horizon for Amazon); Van Der Valk (ITV); The Bay Series 1 & 2 (ITV1); His Dark Materials (Bad Wolf); King Lear, Doctor Who, Shakespeare and Hathaway, Holby City (BBC); Uncle (Baby Cow for BBC3); Neil Gaiman 's Likely Stories (Sid Gentle Films for Sky Arts ); Suspects (Newman Street Productions); Whitechapel Series 3 (Carnival). Film credits include The Roots Manoeuvre (Plan B); Northern Comfort (Netop Films); Rye Lane (DJ Films); The Witches (Warner Bros. Studios); Undergods (Black Dog Films); In Fabric (Rook Films); The Current War (Bazelevs Production); Jawbone (EMU Films); World War Z (Paramount); Julius Caesar (RSC/Illuminations); How It's Done (Emperor's New Films).

Tobias Martin-Clarke is Ensemble/Cover. Tobias is a recent graduate from Guilford School of Acting and The Animals Come to the Table marks Tobias' professional theatre debut. Previous TV credits include Father Brown (BBC) and theatre credits while training include Macbeth (Guildford School of Acting).

Alex Young will play Anna. Theatre credits include Fun Home (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Operation Mincemeat (Fortune Theatre - WhatsOnStage Award nomination); Stranger Things: The First Shadow ( Phoenix Theatre ); Cold War ( Almeida Theatre ); Standing at the Sky's Edge (National Theatre and Sheffield Crucible); Into the Woods ( Theatre Royal Bath ); Anyone Can Whistle (Southwark Playhouse); South Pacific and Me and My Girl (Chichester Festival Theatre); Follies (National Theatre); Carousel (London Coliseum); Promises Promises (Southwark Playhouse - Offie Award nomination); Anything Goes, She Loves Me, Guys and Dolls, and Coriolanus (Sheffield Theatres); Show Boat (Sheffield Theatres and West End).

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/Cast-Set-For-THE-ANIMALS-COME-TO-THE-TABLE-at-Shakespeares-Globe-20260922)._