Imelda Staunton and Toby Jones will join forces in the Royal Court’s latest Theatre Local offering this summer.
The pair of British acting stars will perform in Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation when it is staged by director James Macdonald at the Rose Lipman Building in Haggerston from 5 July to 3 August.
The comedy by Baker, whose The Aliens was staged at the Bush theatre in 2010, follows five lost souls whose lives become entangled when they come together at a community centre class.
Staunton, who is up for an Olivier Award next weekend for her performance in Sweeney Todd, is a London stage regular with credits including There Came A Gypsy Riding and Entertaining Mr Sloane, but is arguably best known for her screen roles in films including Another Year, Vera Drake and the Harry Potter series.
Jones is a rarer sight in London’s theatres, though his credits include Parlour Song at the Almeida and Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the National Theatre, but boast screen credits including The Girl, Berberian Sound Studio and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
Also coming to London as part of Theatre Local is The Strange Undoing Of Prudencia Hart, produced by National Theatre Of Scotland, where Vicky Featherstone was previously Artistic Director before taking over at the helm of the Royal Court.
Created by writer David Greig and director Wils Wilson, and inspired by a wintery night spent locked in a pub in the Scottish Borders, the Border Ballads, Robert Burns and the poems of Robert Service, it follows uptight academic Prudentia Hart who sets off for a conference unaware of what devilish encounters await her.
The Strange Undoing Of Prudencia Hart will play at the London Welsh Centre from 12 July to 3 August before heading to the Bussey Building in Peckham from 5 to 9 August.