Michelle Terry to step down as artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe in 2027

Michelle Terry is to step down as artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe at the end of 2027, closing a decade in charge of the Bankside theatre. Before she goes, she will return to the Globe stage next summer in the title role of Mother Courage and Her Children, which the Globe describes as her final role as artistic director.

The Globe announced the news on Tuesday 27 October. Next year marks a decade since she took up the post, 20 years since she began acting on the Globe stage and 30 years since the Globe opened in 1997. WhatsOnStage reports that announcements about the theatre's future leadership will come in due course.

When does she leave the role?

Terry will stay in post until the end of 2027, after a final summer on stage at the Globe.

In a statement she said: "The ache I feel at saying goodbye is only equal to the love and pride I feel for having been here." Looking back on her time at the Globe, she added: "...it has been the greatest privilege of my life to have been a part of these formative years."

Stella Kanu, the Globe's chief executive, said: "Michelle Terry was one of the principal reasons I wanted to join the Globe, and working alongside her has deepened my admiration for her artistic courage, her rigorous thinking and her commitment to inclusion."

What will her final summer season hold?

Terry reprises her performance from the 2026 summer season in Brecht's epic, in a translation by Anna Jordan, directed by Globe associate artist Elle While, with music by James Maloney, the Globe's head of music, and design by takis. It plays on the open air Globe stage from 10 June to 17 July 2027.

Time Out called her "astonishingly good" last summer. While said: "Directing Michelle in her last performance on the Globe stage as the Artistic Director of this iconic cultural beacon is the honour of a lifetime."

What has her tenure meant for the theatre?

The Globe says her tenure has been defined by inclusion and representation, with the aim of making Shakespeare and the Globe "available and accessible for all". Across her tenure, more than 2,000 actors will have worked with the Globe, and its 77 shows will have been seen by more than 2.3 million theatregoers from over 190 countries. Purchases of access tickets have more than doubled over the past five years.

New writing has been central. Terry commissioned 25 new plays, 63 per cent of them by women and 26 per cent by global majority writers. That run began with Emilia by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, which transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre in 2019 and won three Olivier Awards in 2020. She also brought the wider western canon into the Globe's spaces, with Ibsen's Ghosts, Miller's The Crucible and Chekhov's Three Sisters, while The Seagull is yet to come.

She has kept the Globe's cheapest tickets, she said, "not just so everyone can afford to go to the theatre but because it is everyone's right to go to the theatre".

What can theatregoers see there this winter?

Shakespeare's Globe presents Julius Caesar in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from 6 November 2026 to 14 February 2027, while Pinocchio plays the open air Globe from 28 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. See everything on at Shakespeare's Globe.

What else should readers catch up on?

Plan a trip with our visitor guide to Shakespeare's Globe, look back at her appointment in 2017, or read the original cast announcement for the 2026 staging.

Photos: Marc Brenner.