Olivier Award-winning actress Eve Best is to return to the London stage in 2012, leading the cast of The Duchess Of Malfi at the Old Vic.
The British star of stage and screen, who may be best known for playing the Duchess of Windsor in The King’s Speech or Dr Eleanor O’Hara in hit US drama Nurse Jackie, will take the title role in Webster’s tragedy, which runs from 17 March to 9 June.
Written in the early 1600s, The Duchess Of Malfi is the tale of a young widow who, in marrying against the wishes of her family, sets in motion a trail of revenge and destruction.
It is a stark contrast to Best’s last London performance, which came earlier this summer at Shakespeare’s Globe, where she played the sharp-tongued Beatrice in Shakespeare’s comedy of warring lovers Much Ado About Nothing. The actress, who won an Olivier Award in 2006 for her performance in Hedda Gabler, last appeared at the Old Vic opposite the theatre’s Artistic Director Kevin Spacey in A Moon For The Misbegotten.
The Duchess Of Malfi is being revived by director Jamie Lloyd who has quickly built an impressive reputation, with productions including Three Days Of Rain, Piaf, The Pride and The Little Dog Laughed under his directorial belt.
Prior to the opening of The Duchess Of Malfi at the Old Vic, the theatre presents Michael Frayn’s theatrical comedy Noises Off, which boasts a cast including Janie Dee, Robert Glenister, Celia Imrie and Amy Nuttall.
MA