Orlando Bloom will return to the West End in the titular role of blackly comic thriller Killer Joe this summer.
Bloom, best known for his roles in The Lord Of The Rings and the Pirates Of The Carribean film series, will play a police detective who moonlights as a killer-for-hire, as Tracy Letts’ play runs from Friday 18 May at Trafalgar Studios. Tickets are now available.
The role adds to Bloom’s growing stage credits list, having made his professional stage debut in 2007 in a West End revival of David Storey’s In Celebration, and his Broadway debut as Romeo in Romeo And Juliet in 2013.
Orlando Bloom
Of the part, Bloom said: “Tracy Lett’s Killer Joe is an incredible, adrenaline-fueled piece of writing, with a dark and gritty character to play. It’s very different from many of the film roles I’m most recognised for.
“The play may be 25 years old this year, but the relationships it portrays, especially between Joe and the innocent girl Dottie, speak so brilliantly to the empowerment we’re seeing around the world in 2018. It’s the perfect time to be bringing this play back to London, and I couldn’t be more excited to be part of it.”
Killer Joe centres on the Smith family, who, disenfranchised by the American dream, cook up a plan to murder their estranged matriarch for her insurance money.
To carry out the deed, they hire Joe Cooper, police detective and part-time contract killer. But his entrance into their lives sends things spiralling out of control, and a tense, gut-twisting thriller unfolds – where is the moral line drawn in the fight for survival?
Killer Joe will play a strictly limited 13-week season, from Friday 18 May – Saturday 18 August, directed by Simon Evans (The Best Man, West End) and produced by Emily Dobbs Productions and Empire Street Productions.
Book your Killer Joe tickets today!