Old Vic 2027 season to open with Damian Lewis as Henry V

Rupert Goold begins his tenure as artistic director with a ‘provocative’ version of Shakespeare’s history play, followed by shows starring Milly Alcock and Arinzé Kene

Damian Lewis is to play Henry V at the Old Vic in London in the first production under the theatre’s new artistic director, Rupert Goold.

Goold will direct what is billed as a “provocative” version of Shakespeare’s history play that challenges “what makes a leader a legend”. It will be Lewis’s first major theatre role since he starred in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? almost 10 years ago. He has previously played Romeo and Hamlet on stage, as well as appearing in Cymbeline and Much Ado About Nothing for the Royal Shakespeare Company.