Ian McDiarmid in Six Characters
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McDiarmid returns to RSC to star in Brecht's Life of Galileo

Ian McDiarmid is returning to the Royal Shakespeare Company for the first time since 1985 to lead the cast of a forthcoming revival of Brecht’s A Life of Galileo.

The play, which is directed by Roxana Silbert using a new translation by Mark Ravenhill, charts the 17th century scientist’s extraordinary fight with the church over his assertion that the earth orbits the sun.

A Life of Galileo runs in the RSC’s Swan Theatre from 31 January to 30 March 2013 and will run in repertoire with The Orphan of Xhao and Boris Godunov as part of the A World Elsewhere trilogy.

McDiarmid, who plays the title role, will be joined in the principal cast by Jodie McNee, who returns to the company to play Virginia after roles last season including Isabella in Silbert’s Measure for Measure, and Written on the Heart (which transferred to the West End).

“
Ian is a brave, fearless, charismatic actor brimming with the acute intelligence demanded by the role of Galileo”
Roxana Silbert

Ian McDiarmid previously worked for the RSC in the 1976-7 season and then later in the 1984-5 season, in plays which include:  Schweyk in the Second World War, The Maple Tree Game, Henry V,  Dingo, Destiny, Macbeth and Much Ado about Nothing.

Other recent theatre includes: Timon in Timon of Athens for Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Maximus in Emperor and Galilean for the National Theatre, The Elector in The Prince of Homburg, the title role in John Gabriel Borkman for the Donmar Warehouse and Six Characters in Seach of an Author for Headlong.

Roxana Silbert said: "Ian is a brave, fearless, charismatic actor brimming with the acute intelligence demanded by the role of Galileo".

- by Theo Bosanquet

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