Kristin Scott Thomas, Rufus Sewell and Lia Williams will star in Ian Rickson’s production of Harold Pinter’s Old Times next year.
Playing a strictly limited season from 12 January to 6 April, Old Times will mark the first time a play by the late legendary playwright has been performed in the Harold Pinter theatre, a landmark his wife Lady Antonia Fraser described as “a dream come true”.
In a move reminiscent of Danny Boyle’s acclaimed production of Frankenstein, which saw Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternate the leading roles, Olivier Award-winning actress Scott Thomas and Williams will take it in turns to play the drama’s female roles, Kate and Anna.
The three-hander tells the story of what happens when husband and wife Kate and Deeley (Sewell) reminisce with Kate’s old friend Anna about their early days together in London. Locked away in a secluded farmhouse, conflicting memories and underlying sexual tensions come to a head and the past suddenly feels vividly present.
Scott Thomas was last seen on stage in Rickson’s critically acclaimed production of another of Pinter’s plays, Betrayal. The pair also worked together at the Royal Court with Rickson directing the actress in her Olivier Award-winning role in The Seagull.
While her theatre credits also include West End productions of As You Desire Me and Three Sisters, Scott Thomas is arguably best known for her extensive film credits which include The English Patient, The Horse Whisperer, Gosford Park, Four Weddings And A Funeral, I Loved You So Long and Tell No One.
Fellow Olivier Award-winner Sewell boasts theatre credits including the multi-award-winning Rock ‘N’ Roll in the West End and on Broadway, Arcadia and Luther at the National Theatre, and Macbeth at the Queen’s theatre. On screen the actor has appeared in numerous films including Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Illusionist and The Holiday, and has starred in acclaimed television series including Zen, Pillars Of The Earth, Eleventh Hour and Cold Comfort Farm.
Their co-star Williams returns to the theatre following her role in 2001’s production of The Homecoming. An accomplished Pinter actress, she has appeared in many of the legendary playwright’s works including Celebration at the Almeida theatre, The Lover and The Collection at the Donmar Warehouse and The Hothouse at the National Theatre, the latter under the direction of Rickson. Her many other credits include the National Theatre’s production of Skylight, which transferred to the West End and Broadway, earning her Tony and Olivier Award nominations, My Child at the Royal Court, Earthquakes In London at the NT and As You Like It for the RSC. On screen she is well known for her role in films including Dirty Weekend and The King Is Alive, as well as television roles in Doc Martin and May 33rd.
Old Times will feature design by the acclaimed Hildegard Bechtler (Scenes From An Execution, Top Hat), with lighting by Peter Mumford and sound by Paul Groothuis.