Gossip

Keira Knightley Makes Stage Debut at the Bush???

Orlando Bloom made his stage debut a year ago (See 1st Night Photos, 17 Jul 2007). Could his Pirates of the Caribbean screen co-star Keira Knightley soon be following suit? She’s recently been quoted as saying she would indeed like to tread the boards, but in a more low-key way, away from the commercial West End.

“I can’t quite handle the idea of ‘Screen actress in big West End hit’ and all that,” said Knightley. “I would prefer to do something smaller, maybe at the Bush, which is one of my favourite theatres.” Knightley’s actor father, Will, appeared in David Watson’s Flight Path at the Bush last autumn, while her playwright mother, Sharman MacDonald, premiered two of her plays there, When I Was a Girl I Use to Scream and Shout and The Brave, in the Eighties.

Knightley wouldn’t be the only screen star attracted to the intimate, 80-seat home of new writing based in Shepherd’s Bush in west London. Amongst a long list of top names who’ve performed there, Joseph Fiennes appeared in this summer’s UK premiere of Anthony Weigh’s 2,000 Feet Away (See News, 9 May 2008).