Shakespeare's Globe is delighted to announce that Mark Rylance will star as Philippe V, King of Spain in Claire van Kampen’s new play with music, Farinelli and the King, premiering in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in February 2015. The role of the castrato Farinelli will be sung by celebrated countertenors Iestyn Davies and William Purefoy.
Set in eighteenth-century Spain and Italy, the play tells the true story of Farinelli, once the world’s most famous castrato, and his decision to trade fame and fortune for a life of servitude at the court of King Philippe V. Claire van Kampen’s sumptuous new play explores the intriguing dynamics between Farinelli and the royal couple and is replete with some of the greatest arias of the period.
