As Richard Armitage completes his transformation from dwarf leader to man caught up in a panicking superstitious community, we peek into The Crucible’s rehearsal room.
Actor Richard Armitage holds a certain sway over many fans of television and theatre. Ask anyone who saw him as the troubled and torn Guy Of Gisbourne in the BBC’s family adventure series Robin Hood, or as Lucas North in long-running spy series Spooks.
Even bearded with augmented eyebrows and a mane of grey-flecked hair as dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit films, there was something about the British actor, who learned his trade in the theatre before thriving on the screen, that made many go weak at the knees at a glimpse of his beautiful blue eyes.
So the sight of Armitage preparing to return to the stage as part of Yaël Farber’s exciting in-the-round production of The Crucible at the Old Vic had us in in somewhat of a tiz.
Armitage plays John Proctor in Arthur Miller’s famous tale of a community turning on itself when its girls start to make claims of witchcraft. He’s joined in the production by Adrian Schiller (Three Sisters, Young Vic), Anna Madeley (The Turn Of The Screw, Almeida Theatre), William Gaunt (The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui, Duchess Theatre) and Samantha Colley who makes her professional stage debut in the pivotal role of Abigail Williams.
The Crucible begins previews at the Old Vic on 21 June.