David Morrissey Returns to Liverpool as Macbeth
David Morrissey will return to his home city of Liverpool to take the title role in the Liverpool Everyman’s production of Macbeth which will open on 12 May (previews from 6 May 2011). The show, which will be the theatre’s last major production before it undergoes a £28 million redevelopment, will run until 4 June.
Morrissey, who started his career as part of the Everyman’s youth theatre, will take the stage alongside Jemma Redgrave as Lady Macbeth. The production will mark the first Shakespeare the Everyman’s artistic director Gemma Bodinetz has helmed since she took the post in September 2003.
Having grown up in the Kensington and Knotty Ash areas of Liverpool Morrissey came to prominence in 1983 for his role in Willy Russell’s 1983 film One Summer about two Scouse youths who go to the Welsh hills to escape the gangs and turmoil of Liverpool. He has since appeared in films such as The Other Boleyn Girl, Basic Instinct 2 and John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy.
His stage credits include the 2008 European premiere of Neil LaBute’s In a Dark Dark House for the Almeida, Three Days of Rain at the Apollo Theatre, Matthew Warchus‘ production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Queen’s Theatre, the title role in Peer Gynt at the National Theatre and a number of earlier productions for the RSC.
In a press statement David Morrissey today (4 February 2011) said: “To have the chance to perform this great play at the theatre that has meant so much to me throughout my life is a dream come true. The Liverpool Everyman started me off on my journey as an actor and to be here at this time in its history is a proud moment for me.”
Jemma Redgrave is best known for her role in ITV television drama Cold Blood where she appeared alongside Matthew Kelly and John Hannah. Her recent television credits include ITV’s Unforgiven and the BBC’s Waking the Dead. Her recent stage credits include The Great Game: Afghanistan and Broken Glass for the Tricycle Theatre.
Previously an associate director at Hampstead Theatre, Gemma Bodinetz‘s directing credits at the Everyman have included The Kindness of Strangers, The Mayor of Zalamea and Intemperance. She has helmed productions of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Lady of Leisure, All My Sons, Tartuffe, The Hypochondriac and No Wise Men at the Playhouse as well as Yellowman on tour.
Bodinetz said in a statement today: “I have long wanted to direct this urgent and psychologically complex play and feel with a Macbeth and Lady Macbeth of this quality we have the foundation stones of a truly remarkable production. David Morrissey’s credentials as an actor and relationship with this city make this an extraordinary moment in the Everyman’s history as does his ‘rightness’ for the part.”
The production marks the latest in a line of high profile actors fronting Shakespearian revivals for the Liverpool’s jointly operated Everyman and Playhouse theatres. During the city’s 2008 European Capital of Culture year Rupert Goold directed the late Pete Postlethwaite in the title role of King Lear at the Everyman, with the production later transferring to the Young Vic. Last year saw the Playhouse stage a production of Antony and Cleopatra with a cast led by another Liverpudlian drawn back to the city, Kim Cattrall.
