Damian Lewis to Play Henry V in Old Vic's New Season
Rupert Goold has chosen Shakespeare's history play for the first production of his tenure as the Old Vic's artistic director, and Damian Lewis will play Henry V. It will be Lewis's first major theatre role in almost a decade.
A new director among changing leaders
Goold arrives after his time at the Almeida, which is now run by Dominic Cooke. Other London companies are also changing leaders. Michelle Terry has announced her departure from Shakespeare's Globe, and Tom Littler is leaving the Orange Tree to run the Arts theatre in Cambridge.
Goold said his first season speaks to the Old Vic's history of classical theatre, European repertoire and musical revivals. He described the not-for-profit theatre as "innately a maverick playhouse" that has always sat between the subsidised and commercial sectors.
Lewis returns to the stage
Goold will direct what is billed as a "provocative" version of Henry V, one that challenges what makes a leader a legend. Miriam Buether designs the set.
Lewis last took a major theatre role in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? almost 10 years ago. On stage he has also played Romeo and Hamlet, and he has appeared in Cymbeline and Much Ado About Nothing for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Front row for £20
A new ticketing scheme, Old Vic New Rush, will offer front row seats at £20 for the first five previews of every main-house show. Laura Stevenson, the theatre's executive director, said it is part of an ambition to be a welcoming place for people of all ages.
The full line-up, in order
Henry V opens on 26 January. Julie follows. Rebecca Frecknall, who has just become associate director at the Old Vic, adapts and directs Strindberg's Miss Julie, and Milly Alcock, known as Supergirl, takes the lead.
Internationaal Theater Amsterdam first produced the Julie adaptation. The Old Vic plans a continuing artistic partnership with that company.
In the summer, Goold directs a revival of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins, a satirical musical on real attempts to kill a US president.
Arinzé Kene then stars as a wronged horse-dealer in Kohlhaas. The play draws on a novella, with Marco Baliani and Remo Rostagno credited, and Omar Elerian translated and directed it. It was staged at the Brighton festival and earned a five-star Guardian review.
Source: The Guardian