Outlander's Sam Heughan to play Macbeth in Royal Shakespeare Company debut
The British theatre company has announced its programme of events for 2025/2026, including a raft of plays that will be staged in Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of famous playwright William Shakespeare.
In the RSC's latest version of Macbeth, Scottish actor Heughan, 45, known for playing Highland warrior Jamie Fraser in romance drama Outlander, will star opposite The Day Of The Jackal actress Lia Williams, as Lady Macbeth.
Heughan said: 'At age 18, standing on the main stage of the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, playing 'spear-carrier number 2' (essentially a glorified extra) in a production of Macbeth, I could only dream of one day playing the infamous title character.
Sam Heughan will play Macbeth in a production being staged in Stratford-upon-Avon (Jane Barlow/PA)
'It feels full circle to be returning to the stage, after over a decade working primarily in television and film.
'Not only is Macbeth my favourite Shakespeare play: intense, immediate and unsettling, it also happens to be famously Scottish.
'The RSC has always been at the pinnacle of my ambition and I feel deeply honoured and thankful to be working alongside some enormously talented and creative people.
'The Other Place is the perfect space to create an intense, intimate production and, like Lady M, we will be calling upon the spirits of the RSC's highly acclaimed past productions for their blessing.'
David Tennant, Sir Ian McKellen, and Ralph Fiennes are among the actors who have played the famous character who, consumed by greed and power, murders the king to take the Scottish throne for himself.
The new production will be shown at The Other Place theatre from October 9 to December 6.
Adrian Lester is to play Cyrano de Bergerac (Ian West/PA)
Elsewhere, four of Shakespeare's most famous characters have their stories revisited across two performances, also being staged at The Other Place, from January 2026.
The first performance in All Is But Fantasy explores the story of Lady Macbeth, who is consumed by guilt after plotting to murder King Duncan, and Emilia, a character in tragedy play, Othello.
The second performance looks at the story of Juliet, from tragic romance story Romeo And Juliet, and Richard III, who uses manipulation to become king in the eponymous play.
Olivier award-winning actor Adrian Lester will play the title role of Cyrano de Bergerac in a new version of Edmond Rostand's play about the novelist and playwright, showing at the Swan Theatre from September 27 to November 15.
Over at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Harry Potter star Alfred Enoch will star as Henry V in a play running from March 14 to April 25 2026.
Other highlights include an 80-minute staging of King Lear and a two-part adaptation of John Galsworthy's novels, The Forsyte Saga, both playing at the Swan Theatre later in the year, with the former also going on tour.
Ncuti Gatwa will feature in the West End premiere of a play that re-imagines the relationship between rival playwrights Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare (Ian West/PA)
The RSC is also staging plays in the West End and recently announced the UK premiere of Liz Duffy Adams's Born With Teeth, which will play at Wyndham's Theatre, previewing on August 13 with a final performance on November 1.
The production follows rival playwrights Christopher Marlowe, played by Doctor Who's Ncuti Gatwa, and Shakespeare, played by Killing Eve's Edward Bluemel.
Over in North America, Lolita Chakrabarti's acclaimed stage adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's award-winning novel Hamnet embarks on a three-date tour of the US in Spring 2026.
RSC co-artistic directors Tamara Harvey and Daniel Evans said: 'From Malawi or Manhattan, through French fields, Scottish heaths, mythical lands and Giant country, our 2025/26 programme celebrates what we believe a 21st Century RSC can and should be: global in ambition and outlook, open and collaborative in nature and continuously redefining how Shakespeare and great storytelling can bring joy, connection and improve our understanding of one-another.
'We are delighted to welcome so many artists in their RSC debuts this season, including internationally renowned acting talents Adrian Lester, Sam Heughan and Lia Williams, playwrights Debris Stevenson, Richy Hughes, Shaun McKenna and Lin Coghlan, alongside the visionary theatre-makers of tomorrow, Lynette Linton, Simon Evans, Josh Roche and Whitney White to name a few.'
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