Amer Hlehel will play the title role in Pericles, Prince of Lebanon, Sami Ibrahim's new take on Shakespeare, when English Touring Theatre opens it at Bristol Old Vic in February 2027.
The company is now complete. English Touring Theatre has named the seven performers who will carry Sami Ibrahim's reworking of Pericles from Bristol to Luxembourg next spring, with Amer Hlehel at its centre as the wandering prince.
Around him, Sayyid Aki plays Cleon, Laura Hanna is Thaisa and Sarah Seggari is Dionyza. Raad Rawi doubles as Father and Lysimachus, and Miltos Yerolemou covers three parts: Antiochus, Simonides and Leonine. The seventh name is Osloob, a founding member of the Palestinian hip-hop group Katibeh 5. Osloob performs on stage throughout as musician and vocalist, and has composed the score as well.
Shakespeare's play is a story of storms, separations and reunions spread across the Mediterranean, and Ibrahim has moved it into the present. Here a father and his daughter are split apart by war and their journey runs through Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Libya and Greece. The original verse is set against contemporary speech, so the production keeps asking how love holds up once two people no longer have a language in common.
“It’s been a thrilling challenge to mix the original Shakespeare with modern dialogue and a modern story, tracking the journeys of people fleeing across continents,” Ibrahim said. “It’s a play about migration and the way families are both torn apart and reunited over decades.”
ETT artistic director Richard Twyman directs the world premiere, with set and costume design by Ana Inés Jabares-Pita, lighting by Simisola Majekodunmi and sound by Donato Wharton. Maher Abdul Moaty is movement director, Jacob Sparrow is casting director and Ashton Laffineur is associate director. Ibrahim is also behind the stage version of Piranesi heading to the RSC.
The show is co-produced by English Touring Theatre, Bristol Old Vic and Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, in association with MMXX. It runs at Bristol Old Vic from Thursday 25 February to Saturday 20 March 2027, with a press performance on Wednesday 3 March, tickets from £11 and age guidance of 12+, before it moves to Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg from Wednesday 14 to Friday 16 April 2027.
For more information, visit the official website.
