Mirren Headlines Donmar's Orpheus Cast

Helen Mirren is confirmed to headline the cast in the Donmar Warehouse's revival of Tennessee Williams' 1957 drama Orpheus Descending this summer. The production, directed by Nicholas Hytner, opens 27 June, following previews from 15 June, and continues until 19 August 2000.

In the play about the small-mindedness of a bigoted Southern town, Mirren plays Lady Torrance, an unhappily married, Italian immigrant woman who has an affair with a young drifter and Elvis-inspired musician.

Mirren appeared most recently on stage in Donald Margulies' Collected Stories, which finished its run at the Haymarket last month, and the National's critically panned production of Antony and Cleopatra, in which she starred opposite Alan Rickman. Mirren's film work includes The Madness of King George, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Mosquito Coast, The Long Good Friday and The Passion of Ayn Rand. In Britain, she is best known to television audiences for her role in Prime Suspect, for which she won four BAFTA Best Actress Awards and an Emmy Best Actress Award.

Mirren is joined in the cast by Saskia Reeves and Stuart Townsend. Reeves' stage credits include The Darker Face of the Earth (RNT), Much Ado About Nothing (Cheek by Jowl) and Playhouse Creatures (Old Vic). Townsend's film credits include Wonderland, Resurrection Man and Shooting Fish.

Orpheus Descending is directed by Nicholas Hytner who also directed Alan Bennett's The Lady in the Van, starring Maggie Smith, which continues to sell out at the Queen's Theatre.

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