Star Wars’ Ian McDiarmid returns to Royal Exchange
February 15, 2008
Star Wars screen actor Ian McDiarmid returns to Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre for the first time in over 20 years to appear in the world premiere of Jonah And Otto – a new play by critically-acclaimed writer Robert Holman.
He is to star alongside Andrew Sheridan in this new production which runs in The Studio at the Royal Exchange Theatre from Wednesday 12 March to Saturday 5 April.
Recently seen in Channel Four’s major period series City Of Vice, Ian McDiarmid, who plays Otto, is best known for his recurring big screen role as Palpatine in the Star Wars saga. He first appeared as the evil Palpatine in Return Of The Jedi and reprised the role in The Phantom Menace, Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith.
Set in a walled garden on a warm summer’s evening, Jonah And Otto tells the story of a chance encounter between twenty-six-year-old Jonah and sixty-two-year-old Otto - a beautiful evocation of a fleeting moment of connection between two very different men. Magical, and at times surreal, the play is a humane, funny and ultimately haunting exploration of what it is to be male and quintessentially English.
Ian McDiarmid was a Royal Exchange Associate Artistic Director from 1986 to 1988. He directed Moliere’s Don Juan and his acting credits included Marlowe’s Edward II.
From 1990 to 2002 he served alongside Jonathan Kent as joint Artistic Director of London’s Almeida Theatre where his stage credits included Faith Healer (for which he won a Critic’s Circle Award for Best Actor). Other recent theatre work includes a return to the role of Teddy in Brian Friel’s classic in Dublin and New York (for which he won a Tony Award) and Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman at the Donmar Warehouse. Other film work includes Gorky Park, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Sleepy Hollow.
Andrew Sheridan, who plays Jonah, was last seen at the Royal Exchange in The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice. His other RET credits include Across Oka also by Robert Holman. Television credits include Shameless, New Street Law, Coronation Street and Cold Blood. Film work includes the role of Terry Mason in the BAFTA winning Control.
Jonah And Otto is directed by guest director Clare Lizzimore and designed by Paul Burgess. The creative team is completed by Kay Harding (lighting) and Claire Windsor (sound).
To Book:
Jonah And Otto
Ticket Prices: Adults £9.50 and concessions £6.50
Box Office: 0161 833 9833 or online - www.royalexchange.co.uk/bookonline
www.royalexchange.co.uk
-Glenn Meads
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