08 May Shakespeare in the Squares announces full cast for The Taming of the Shrew
Shakespeare in the Squares announces the full cast for their eighth return to London’s green spaces with
The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare’s comedy battle of wits, wills and wild romance featuring
toe-tapping pop classics.
Toby Gordon directs Lee Drage (Hortensio, Gabriel), Paddy Duff (Lucentio, Sugarsop), John Holt-Roberts
(Gremio, Walter, Widow), Nikita Johal (Bianca, Curtis), Roddy Lynch (Petruchio), Elizabeth Marsh
(Baptista, Tailor), Kalifa Taylor (Tranio), who was nominated for an Off West End Award for last year’s
All’s Well That Ends Well, and Sasha Wilson (Katherina). The tour opens on 4th June at Leinster Square,
W2 and runs until the 12th July at The Actor’s Church Garden, WC2.
Top row from left to right: Lee Drage, Paddy Duff, John Holt-Roberts, Nikita Johal
Bottom row from left to right: Roddy Lynch, Elizabeth Marsh, Kalifa Taylor, Sasha Wilson
Shakespeare in the Squares presents
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Toby Gordon
Wednesday 4th June – Saturday 12th July
Press night: Wednesday 11th June, Cleveland Square, W2
PRESS RELEASE
May 2025
Shakespeare in the Squares celebrates its eighth summer tour with an all-new production of The Taming
of the Shrew, Shakespeare’s comedy battle of wits, wills and wild romance featuring toe-tapping pop
classics.
Lee Drage plays Hortensio, Gabriel. Lee trained at the Guildford School of Acting. Theatre credits include
Shakespeare in the Squares’ Twelfth Night and All’s Well That Ends Well, The Sound of Music (Pitlochry
Festival Theatre), The Threepenny Opera (Minack Theatre), Aloe Aloe (Bush Theatre), The Spanish
Tragedy (Old Red Lion), Chariots of Fire (Gielgud, West End), Oh What A Lovely War (UK tour), The Water
Engine (Old Vic Tunnels), The Hot Mikado (Watermill Theatre), Saturday Night (Jermyn St Theatre).
Television credits include Silo (Apple TV). As a comedian, he has performed at VAULT festival, Brighton
and Edinburgh Fringe and was nominated for an Off West End Award for his show Shit Samaritans.
Paddy Duff plays Lucentio, Sugarsop. Paddy is a Scottish actor from Aberdeenshire. Stage credits include
Romeo & Juliet (International Tour), The Mousetrap (West End), Pygmalion (Actors’ Church), Stickman
(UK tour) & BBC DOCTORS. Screen Credits include Outlander and the BBC’s Doctors.
John Holt-Roberts plays Gremio, Walter, Widow. John trained at the Academy of Live and Recorded
Arts. Stage credits include Welfare, A Christmas Carol, The Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland,
Robin Hood and The Major Oak (Derby Theatre), Cinderella (Chester Storyhouse), Twelfth Night (JLA
Productions), The Gingerbread Man (Hiccup Theatre, National Tour), Troupers/ Till the Cows Come Home
(Mikron Theatre, National Tour) The Dinner (Lamphouse Theatre/Switch Festival), Film Credits include
Father Christmas is Back (MSR Media) and Zomblogalypse (One and Other Creative). John has performed
extensively across the country with the band Hyde Family Jam.
Nikita Johal plays Bianca, Curtis. Nikita trained at Performance Preparation Academy in Musical Theatre.
Credits include Now That’s What I Call A Musical (UK Tour), Princess Caraboo (Finborough Theatre),
Children Of Eden (Union Theatre), Spring Awakening (Hope Mill Theatre), The Snow Queen (The
Everyman), Broken Wings (Theatre Royal Haymarket, The Other Palace & Beittidine Festival), Sleeping
Beauty (Watford Palace Theatre), Aladdin (Newbury Corn Exchange), What The Ladybird Heard (The
Palace, West End & UK Tour), Migrations (Welsh National Opera UK Tour), The Wife Of Willesden (The
Kiln & Boston/New York), Henry V, The Canterbury Tales (Guildford Shakespeare Company), The
Invincibles (Queens Theatre Hornchurch & The New Wolsey), Jack & The Beanstalk (Evolution
Pantomimes), Frankie Goes To Bollywood (UK Tour & Southbank transfer).
Roddy Lynch plays Petruchio. Roddy trained at Rose Bruford College (BA Actor Musicianship). Theatre
Credits include Macbeth (Victoria Theatre Singapore / Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts), Kinky
Boots (Storyhouse Chester), Romeo & Juliet (Victoria Theatre Singapore / Hong Kong Academy for
Performing Arts), Upstart! Shakespeare’s Rebel Daughter Judith (Edinburgh Fringe / Gilded Balloon),
Rapunzel (Watermill Theatre), What the Ladybird Heard (The Palace Theatre, West End), A Christmas
Carol (The Egg / Theatre Royal Bath), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Garden Shakespeare Company).
Elizabeth Marsh plays Baptista, Tailor.
Elizabeth has performed at the National Theatre, in the West End, on tour and at regional theatres all
around the country. Some of her favourite roles include Jenny in The Threepenny Opera, Yitzak in Hedwig
and the Angry Inch, Mme Giry in Phantom of the Opera, Fay in Iron, Klytaimestra in Elektra, Marquise de
Merteuil in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Eleanor in Dead Funny, Mary in Merrily We Roll Along, Annie
Wilkes in Misery, and Beverley in Abigail’s Party (twice!). She also works in TV and film, most recently in
PRESS RELEASE
May 2025
The Chelsea Detective. She is delighted to be working with SITS again after playing the Nurse in Romeo
and Juliet in 2017.
Kalifa Taylor plays Tranio. Kalifa’s credits include Look Who’s All Grown Up (Space Theatre); Selected
Recordings of Us (Space Theatre); Money Heist: The Experience; The Gunpowder Plot Immersive
Experience (Historic Royal Palaces and Layered Reality); Hamlet (Southwark Playhouse); War Inside
(Vaults Festival); Laura and Sophia (The Lion and Unicorn); Feel More X Lately (The Lion and Unicorn);
1000 Ways the World Will End (& How It Starts Again) (The King’s Head); Noises Off! (Theatre Royal
Haymarket); All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare in the Squares); A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story
(Birmingham Rep).
Sasha Wilson plays Katherina. Sasha is a Bulgarian-American LAMDA-trained actor. Her credits include
The Brief Life and Mysterious Death of Boris III King of Bulgaria (Giovanna, Liliana Panitsa, Dannecker),
Noises Off (Belinda), The Mechanicals Present: Julius Caesar or Macbeth (Brutus/Macbeth) and
Shakespeare in the Square’s 2022 production The Tempest (Sebastia/Trincula). She founded Out Of The
Forest Theatre in 2017, an ensemble based theatre company that takes misremembered or forgotten
stories from history, sets them to folk music and tells them through a lens to better understand today.
