One of my favorite traditions on Fan Fun is writing the Top Damian Lewis Moments of the Year. And every single year, Damian somehow makes this job both very easy and completely impossible at the same time — because how do you even choose?
He acts. He sings. He plays sports. He lends his voice to art work. He supports charities. And in May 2025, he gave us a moment that felt very special: Shakespeare, live, under the stars, in Regent’s Park. I envy everyone that was there that night in the most positive way!
Yes. Let’s talk about that night.
On Sunday, May 25, 2025, Damian Lewis took part in “Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year – Live!“ at the stunning Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre.
The event is created and hosted by poetry champion Allie Esiri, who also edited the bestselling book Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year, a lovely, simple concept: one special evening where top stage actors bring Shakespeare’s speeches, poems, and scenes to life. It’s not a full-play production but a “greatest hits” of the Bard — a celebration, a love letter to his work.
And the cast was incredible.
Alongside Damian were Kate Fleetwood, Tony Robinson, Olivia Williams, Samantha Spiro, Danny Sapani, Susan Wokoma, Indira Varma, Hugh Ross, James Phoon, and others. A true dream lineup for anyone who loves theatre.
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre isn’t just any theatre. It’s one of London’s oldest outdoor stages (est. 1932), with more than 1,300 seats, and a summer-season tradition that draws thousands each year.
Here’s a detail that makes this moment even more meaningful for us, Damian Lewis fans.
More than 30 years ago, a very young Damian Lewis – fresh from drama school – played Hamlet at this exact same theatre in Regent’s Park.
So when he returned in 2024 — and now again in 2025 — it truly felt like a full-circle moment. Same place. Same playwright. And decades of brilliant work in between.
Back then, he was a young actor just starting out.
Now, he stands on that same stage as a celebrated actor — still doing Shakespeare.
In this one-night performance, Damian brought to life several characters from different Shakespeare plays. According to the official programme, he appeared as:
Mark Antony in Julius Caesar (If you missed the performance at the Open Air Theatre, you should definitely see Damian perform Antony’s “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” speech on the Guardian Solos which was a 2016 Top Damian Lewis Moment on Fan Fun!)
Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Hamlet in Hamlet
Posthumus in Cymbeline giving Posthumus’s “powerful, vitriolic, ugly speech” against women. Allie Esiri says in an interview with The Times that She says Lewis asked to play Posthumus for her show, but the misogyny of that speech is really “a hell of a warning about where jealousy can lead.”
Henry V in Henry V – wooing his child bride, Katherine, played by the very male, 54-year-old Paul Chahidi. See below!
That is a wild mix of characters.
From tragic prince to romantic king to comic craftsman to powerful Roman speaker in one night… that range alone would already earn a Top Moment spot!
I don’t know about the other actors on stage but I have noticed that the parts Damian performed on stage has connections to his own stage work. As we talked about earlier, Damian played the title role in Hamlet in 1994 at the Open Air Theatre. He also played Posthumus in Cymbeline as a young actor in the Royal Shakespeare Company. Damian’s performance of Mark Antony’s “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” speech in the Guardian Solos has received high accolades. And, funny enough, Damian played Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream when he was 12 years old!
I wasn’t there that night — but I like to imagine:
Soft evening breeze. Cast walking onstage under lights. The hush of the audience as the first line is spoken. Damian as Mark Antony, loud and commanding. Then as Hamlet, subtle and haunted. Then a laugh as Quince. Then again as a royal king.
Seeing Damian on stage is always a special experience. Every time he returns to live theatre, it feels like watching him recharge his creative batteries. And this evening was extra special since it wasn’t filmed for a series. It wasn’t a long run. It existed for one evening — and then it was gone. And I hope they do it again!
Here is the official programme:
Act 1 (approx 55 minutes)
- Henry V, Prologue | Samuel West as Chorus
- Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 5 | Tony Robinson as Malvolio
- Venus and Adonis | extract Danny Sapani
- Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2 | Susan Wokoma as Juliet & Toheeb Jimoh as Romeo
- Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 4 | Olivia Williams as Isabella
- Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act 4, Scene 3 | Luke Thompson as Berowne
- Sonnet 29 | Danny Sapani
- All’s Well That Ends Well, Act 4, Scene 3 | Stephen Mangan as Parolles
- Henry VI, Part 1, Act 1, Scene 2 | Susan Wokoma as Joan la Pucelle
- The Taming of the Shrew, Act 4, Scene 5 | Samantha Spiro as Katherine, Danny Sapani as Petruchio and Paul Chahidi as Hortensio
- Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2 | Damian Lewis as Mark Antony
- As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7 | Paul Chahidi as Jaques
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3, Scene 1 | Susan Wokoma as Bottom, Damian Lewis as Quince, TBC as Snout and Paul Chahidi as Starveling
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3, Scene 2 | Samantha Spiro as Hermia, Olivia Williams as Helena, Stephen Mangan as Lysander & Samuel West as Demetrius
- Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1 | Damian Lewis as Hamlet
- A Silly Poem by Spike Milligan | Tony Robinson
Interval (20 minutes)
Act 2 (approx 35 minutes)
- Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3 | Samuel West as Benedick & Samantha Spiro as Beatrice
- Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4, Scene 1 | Samuel West as Benedick & Samantha Spiro as Beatrice
- King John, Act 3, Scene 4 | Olivia Williams as Constance, Toheeb Jimoh as Pandolph & Danny Sapani as King Philip
- Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3 | Stephen Mangan as Polonius
- Cymbeline, Act 2, Scene 5 | Damian Lewis as Posthumus
- Antony and Cleopatra, Act 5, Scene 2 | Olivia Williams as Cleopatra
- Measure for Measure, Act 3, Scene 1 | Toheeb Jimoh as Claudio
- Richard II, Act 5, Scene 5 | Samuel West as Richard II
- Henry V, Act 5, Scene 2 | Damian Lewis as Henry V & Paul Chahidi as Katharine
- Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 3 | Tony Robinson as Porter
- Sonnet 116 | Toheeb Jimoh
- The Merchant of Venice, Act 3, Scene 1 | Tracy Ann Oberman as Shylock
- King Lear, Act 1, Scene 4 | Danny Sapani as King Lear & Samantha Spiro as Goneril
- The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1 | Luke Thompson as Prospero
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 5, Scene 1 | Tony Robinson as Puck
