Hamnet

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s acclaimed production comes to Canterbury for one week only. Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling novel, now also an Oscar-winning film, _Hamnet_ has been adapted for the stage by award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabarti. This powerful story is a love letter to passion, birth, grief and the magic of nature. Directed by former RSC Deputy and Acting Artistic Director Erica Whyman, _Hamnet_ premiered at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, breaking box office records before transferring to the West End and opening to the biggest advance in the Garrick Theatre’s history. Now audiences across the UK can experience this critically acclaimed play which pulls back the 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. 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. This production includes distressing scenes and themes of child death.