A West End production has been announced which combines some of the most exciting emerging theatre makers of recent years with two of TV’s favourite actors.
The play is called Labour of Love, and it’ll open at the Noel Coward Theatre in September.
All we know about the subject is that, according to the press release, it concerns “Two Labour MPs with differing priorities. Set away from Westminster and in the traditional northern heartlands of the party, the play is a 'clash of philosophy, culture and class against the backdrop of the Labour Party over 25 years”
The two MP will be played by popular actors Martin Freeman and Sarah Lancashire.
I’ve always followed Freeman’s career with great interest as I directed him when he was a drama student – once advising him that he’d never get anywhere if he kept his silly “pudding bowl” haircut. Whether or not the haircut helped or hindered him he went on to find extraordinary success on TV, most notably as Dr Watson in the contemporary reboot of Sherlock Holmes and the lead in U.S. show Fargo. On the big screen his credits have included Love Actually, Nativity and The Hobbit. He’s no stranger to the theatre either and was last seen on stage in Jamie Lloyd's production of Richard III at Trafalgar Studios.
Sarah Lancashire became a national treasure and household name when she played the ditzy, loveable and ultimately tragic figure of Raquel in Coronation Street. Building on that success she recently won huge acclaim for the lead role of Catherine in the gritty police series Happy Valley which perfectly balanced family drama with a gripping criminal investigation. Her West End credits include Blood Brothers and Betty Blue Eyes.
Labour of Love is written by James Graham who has lit up the British Theatre scene over the last five years with his immaculately plotted, funny and fascinating accounts of UK political history, most notably This House which had highly acclaimed runs at the National Theatre and in the West End. Graham's other work includes Privacy, The Angry Brigade and even the script for the under-performing Broadway musical Finding Neverland which never managed to find much approval from critics or audiences despite containing songs by U.K pop star Gary Barlow.
For this forthcoming production he’s reunited with This House director Jeremy Herrin. Herrin is a master at bringing sophisticated new writing to vibrant life at the National Theatre and in the West End; notably his recent scintillating production of Pieces, Places and Things which transferred from the NT to The Wyndham’s Theatre.
Labour of Love runs at the Noel Coward Theatre from 25 September to 2 December, with previews from 15 September.
It should be a really classy evening.
It's been announced that Natalie Dormer, who's utterly magnificent in TV's Game of Thrones, will be returning to the stage in a new production of Venus in Fur which previously had a short but attention-grabbing run on Broadway. She'll be playing an actress who, one rainy night, bursts in on a director insisting he auditions her for the lead role in a play about sadomasochistic sex based on the 1870 novel Venus In Fur by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.