Imperium: The Cicero Plays

About Robert Harris

Robert Harris is a bestselling author whose novels include: The Cicero Trilogy (Imperium Lustrum and Dictator) Fatherland Enigma Archangel Pompeii The Ghost The Fear Index An Officer and a Spy which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and Conclave. Several of his books have been filmed including The Ghost which was directed by Roman Polanski. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages and he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Mike Poulton is an award-winning dramatist whose many adaptations and translations for the stage include: Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl (Chichester Festival Theatre 2024); Robert Harris's Imperium (Royal Shakespeare Company); The York Mystery Plays (directed by Philip Breen at York Minster); Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies (directed by Jeremy Herrin for the Royal Shakespeare Company); Dickenss A Tale of Two Cities (directed by James Dacre at the Royal & Derngate Northampton); Fortunes Fool (directed by Lucy Bailey at the Old Vic London); Chekhovs Uncle Vanya (directed by Lucy Bailey at The Print Room London); Schillers Luise Miller (directed by Michael Grandage for the Donmar Warehouse London); Anjin: The English Samurai (directed by Gregory Doran for Horipro in Tokyo); Malorys Morte dArthur (directed by Gregory Doran for the Royal Shakespeare Company); Schillers Wallenstein (directed by Angus Jackson at Chichester Festival Theatre); Schillers Mary Stuart (directed by Terry Hands at Clwyd Theatr Cymru); Ibsens The Lady from the Sea (directed by Lucy Bailey at Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Chekhovs The Cherry Orchard (directed by Philip Franks at Chichester Festival Theatre and Terry Hands at Clwyd Theatr Cymru); Ibsens Rosmersholm (directed by Anthony Page at the Almeida Theatre London); Strindbergs The Father (directed by Angus Jackson at Chichester); Myrmidons (directed by Simon Coury at the Samuel Beckett Theatre Dublin); and a two-part adaptation of Chaucers Canterbury Tales (directed by Gregory Doran for the Royal Shakespeare Company and performed at the Swan Theatre Stratford-upon-Avon in the West End and on tour of the US and Spain). His acclaimed version of Schillers Don Carlos premiered at the Sheffield Crucible in a production directed by Michael Grandage with Derek Jacobi as King Philip II of Spain. It has since been widely performed including by Rough Magic Theatre Company in Dublin (directed by Lynne Parker) and at the Goteborgs Stadsteater (directed by Eva Bergman). Other productions include Ibsens Hedda Gabler (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Liverpool Playhouse); Turgenevs Fortunes Fool (directed by Arthur Penn at the Music Box Theater Broadway; nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and winner of seven major awards including the Tony Awards for Best Actor for Alan Bates and Best Featured Actor for Frank Langella); Uncle Vanya (directed by Michael Mayer at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre Broadway; with Derek Jacobi Roger Rees and Laura Linney); Three Sisters (directed by Bill Bryden at the Birmingham Rep; with Charles Dance); Ghosts (Theatre Royal Plymouth); The Seagull Three Sisters The Dance of Death and an adaptation of Euripides Ion (all directed by David Hunt at the Mercury Theatre Colchester). He was made an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2017.