Orlando Blooms for West End Debut In Celebration???

Orlando Bloom looks set to be the next big screen star to tread the boards in London. According to Variety, he’ll make his West End debut in a revival of David Storey’s 1969 play In Celebration, which revolves around three brothers who return home for their parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. Bloom is best known for blockbuster films including The Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean trilogies, Troy and Kingdom of Heaven. But he’s been hankering to appear on stage for sometime. In an interview with the Daily Mail two years ago (See The Goss, 6 May 2005), he said: “It’s more than an idea. I think it’s something that has to happen… I did theatre at drama school (Guildhall School of Music and Drama), but I didn’t have the chance to do the stage work that, as a young actor, you feel you have to do before you do the big epic films.” At the time, he was aiming for one of London’s intimate subsidised houses, suggesting either the Donmar Warehouse (250 seats) or the Almeida (320 seats). Though no venue has yet been confirmed for In Celebration, it’s being produced by impresario Sonia Friedman and Variety speculates that it will open in July at the West End’s Trafalgar Studios (which, at 400 seats, is in the same size ballpark). Anna Mackmin - who has recently had two productions at the Almeida, The Lightning Play and Dying for It - is on board to direct.

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