British film star Ralph Fiennes is to return to the stage this summer when he plays Prospero in the Trevor Nunn-directed production of The Tempest.
Fiennes will make his London stage return from 27 August at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
Fiennes, who is better known for playing a very different wizard – the world-threatening Voldemort in the Harry Potter series of films – was last seen in Theatreland in 2008, when he starred in Yasmina Reza’s comedy God Of Carnage and led the National Theatre production of Oedipus.
The former Royal Shakespeare Company regular, whose stage credits also include The Talking Cure and Six Characters In Search Of An Author, is one of the biggest British stars in the film world, with movies including The Reader, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, The English Patient and Schindler’s List to his name.
The Tempest, thought by many to be Shakespeare’s final play, follows Prospero, the usurped Duke of Milan, who has been stranded with his daughter on an island for years. As his deposers pass close to his solitary home on a ship, Prospero summons a storm to bring them crashing into his vengeful lair.
Prior to The Tempest’s opening, the Theatre Royal Haymarket will host the transfer of the Chichester Festival Theatre production of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, which will run in London from 16 June to 20 August.
The tale of two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which is also directed by Nunn, will star Tim Curry as the Player King. This rare excursion onto the West End stage is the first time Curry has appeared in London’s Theatreland since opening the British production of Monty Python’s Spamalot as King Arthur in 2006. Curry is best known for his unmistakable grin and appearances in films including Scary Movie 2, Charlie’s Angels, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Annie and Legend.
Further casting for both Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead and The Tempest is yet to be confirmed.
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is currently staging Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path, the first show in the Nunn-directed season.
The widely praised production stars Sienna Miller, Sheridan Smith and James Purefoy in a tale of conflicting love set during the Second World War.
MA