Daniel Lapaine, Kevin R McNally and Indira Varma will star in Conor McPherson’s new adaptation of The Dance Of Death, which plays as part of the final Donmar Trafalgar season next month.
Lapaine can currently be seen on stage alongside two-time Olivier Award-winning actress Sheridan Smith in Brian Friel’s adaptation of Hedda Gabler at the Old Vic, which comes to the end of its run this weekend. The Australian actor’s other theatre credits include All My Sons, opposite David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker, and Scenes From The Back Of Beyond and F**king Games at the Royal Court.
Star of The Pirates Of The Caribbean films, McNally has appeared in Donmar West End productions of Hamlet, in which he starred alongside Jude Law, and Tom Stoppard’s adaptation of Ivanov opposite Kenneth Branagh.
Well known for her on screen appearances in TV series Hustle, Torchwood and Luther, Varma’s previous work for the Donmar Warehouse includes Twelfth Night in the West End, The Vortex and Peter Nichols’ award-winning comedy Privates On Parade, which will be revived in the West End next month by the Donmar’s former Artistic Director Michael Grandage.
Adapted from August Strindberg’s classic tale by acclaimed playwright McPherson, whose Olivier Award-winning play The Weir will receive a major revival at the Donmar Warehouse next year, The Dance Of Death tells the story of embittered couple Edgar and Alice whose marriage is soured by hatred. When the possibility of redemption and escape arrives for Alice in the shape of their former comrade Kurt, it seems that Edgar is prepared to use his very last breath to make their lives a living hell.
Directed by Titas Halder, The Dance Of Death will play from 13 December to 5 January at the Trafalgar Studio 2 following Penelope Skinner’s new adaptation of The Promise, which opens the annual season staged to showcase work by graduates of the Donmar’s Resident Assistant Director programme.