Greg Wise will return to the London stage after an absence of almost two decades to star in the European premiere of Brad Fraser’s Kill Me Now at the Park Theatre next month.
The screen regular, possibly best known for his roles in films including Sense And Sensibility and Walking On Sunshine, will star as the father of a disabled child in the Braham Murray-directed drama from 19 February.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, the actor said he was drawn back to the stage by “fear”, commenting: “When you get to a certain period, if you’re lucky in life and in your job and you get to work, there are only a finite number of things you’re ever asked to do really and you go, ‘I’ve played that before.’ So more than anything in the last couple of years I’ve just been desperate to do things that I haven’t done before.”
Joining Wise, who last appeared on stage in 1998’s Nabokov’s Gloves at the Hampstead Theatre, in the cast is Oliver Gomm, who will follow London roles at the Orange Tree Theatre in Schools For Scheming and The Charity That Began At Home to play his son Joey.
Described as a “funny and moving play that shows whatever twists and turns life takes, laughter really is the best medicine”, Kill Me Now tells their story of adjustment when Jake is struck by an unexpected disaster and is forced to question who is really looking after whom.
The cast will also include London stage newcomer Charlotte Harwood, Waterloo Road’s Jack McMullen (Father And Sons, Donmar Warehouse) and Anna Wilson-Jones (Life After George and Dangerous Corner in the West End).
The Finsbury Park venue also announced today that Torben Betts’ Muswell Hill will transfer to the Park90 space following its successful run at the White Bear Theatre last year.
Playing from 17 February to 14 March, the drama takes place on 13 January 2010 when almost two million people were left homeless following the devastating Haiti earthquake. Meanwhile in leafy north London, six individuals sit down to a dinner party and worry that their normal lives will leave them ignored by history.
Following its premiere in 2012, co-directors Roger Mortimer and Deborah Edgington’s revival of the darkly funny and touching piece received critical acclaim when it opened last August. In its four star review, Time Out described it as a “painful portrait of a middle-class milieu” and praised the direction, commenting: “Mortimer keeps the tension on a knife edge and the show feels cool and dangerous.”
The transfer will see Nicole Abraham, Annabel Bates, Gregory Cox and Jack Johns revive their roles, with Ralph Aiken and Charlotte Pyke joining the production for its Park Theatre run.