HER productions on tour with Twelfth Night
- Alan Hulme
- 5 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Manchester-based all-female and non-binary HER productions has three Coronation Street names among the cast for newly-announced summer 2026 tour of Shakespeare's romantic comedy Twelfth Night.
In the central role of Viola will be Hannah Ellis-Ryan, who appeared most recently in HER’s Private Lives and in over 30 episodes of Coronation Street as Hannah Gilmore, the daughter of Liz and Jim McDonald. Hannah also produces short films, and wrote and starred in Filter, which won "best short" at the British International Film Festival. Last year, the Writers Guild of Great Britain gave her the Olwyn Wymark Award for her work.
Channique Sterling Brown, playing Feste, spent a three year stint on Corrie playing Dee Dee Bailey, for which she was voted best newcomer at the 2023 British Soap Awards.
Beth Vyse, playing Sir Toby Belch, has also appeared as a TV series regular in Weatherfield, playing Bridget and is also Sister Levi in the Channel 4 sitcom Everyone Else Burns.
The production opens at The Dukes, Lancaster (June 19-21), moves on to Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester (June 24-July 5), then Rochdale Heywood Civic (July 9-10), and ends at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield (July 14-15).
Shipwrecked and separated from her twin, Viola washes ashore in Illyria. Disguising herself as the suave Cesario, she enters the service of Count Orsino, who pines for the aloof Olivia. But as Viola navigates tangled desires and mistaken identities, love blossoms in unexpected places...
Since 2017, HER has been redefining Shakespeare with its ground-breaking annual tradition that reimagines the Bard’s works with all-female and non-binary casts. The company's 2024 Taming of the Shrew was listed in The Stage’s Top 50 Shows of the Year, and will transfer to London this year.Â