Downton Abbey star Laura Carmichael has joined the previously announced Ken Stott, Anna Friel and Samuel West in this autumn’s revival of Uncle Vanya.
The actress, who plays Lady Edith in the acclaimed ITV drama, will play the title character’s niece in the much-anticipated Chekhov revival, which comes to the Vaudeville theatre from 25 October.
Though she is best known for her work on the award-winning Julian Fellowes-penned series about the lives of a family and its servants at a country estate, Carmichael has previously worked on stage in Plenty at the Sheffield Crucible and productions including As You Like It and The Vicar Of Wakefield at the Bristol Old Vic, where she trained.
Directed by Lindsay Posner, who most recently directed Old Vic hit Noises Off, Uncle Vanya is the story of characters in love with the past, ideals and with each other.
The star-packed production opens at the Vaudeville theatre following current Noël Coward drama Volcano, which closes at the end of September, and three-weeks of stand up comedy from Have I Got News For You’s Paul Merton.
The British production of Uncle Vanya is the first of two playing on the West End stage this autumn, as a Russian production by award-winning theatre company Vakhtangov will run at the Noël Coward theatre from 5 to 10 November.