Gregory Doran to finally direct 36th play from Shakespeare’s First Folio – for student production

The former RSC director, now visiting professor of contemporary theatre at Oxford University, will stage The Two Gentlemen of Verona

When Gregory Doran stepped down as artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company last year, he had – over the course of an illustrious career – directed 35 of the 36 plays in Shakespeare’s First Folio. Those productions were often led by theatrical megastars but he will now mount a student production of the remaining play, The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Doran is a visiting professor of contemporary theatre at Oxford University, whose students were invited to audition by self-taping a monologue last year, with no previous experience of Shakespeare deemed necessary. There will be six performances of the comedy, which is one of Shakespeare’s earliest and least revived plays, from 15-18 May at Oxford Playhouse.