Bill Pullman to make RSC debut in The Cherry Orchard

Bill Pullman is set to star in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Cherry Orchard later this year, opposite Kenneth Branagh and Helen Hunt.

Pullman, whose many film credits include Spaceballs, Independence Day and While You Were Sleeping, will make his RSC debut as Gaev in the production, which runs in the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, from 10 July to 29 August.

Pullman has previously appeared on the London stage in All My Sons at the Old Vic and Mad House in the West End. His Broadway credits include Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?.

The Cherry Orchard is a new version of Anton Chekhov’s final play by playwright Laura Wade, directed by RSC co-artistic director Tamara Harvey. The creative team also includes set and costume designer Anna Fleischle and casting director Charlotte Sutton.

On joining the cast, Pullman said: “Thrilled is too inadequate – I’m thankful to be part of this company alongside Ken and Helen, and to be working with the talented Tamara Harvey and Laura Wade. When I think of this production, set in the Swan Theatre, I have a feeling that we all are anticipating an experience of exceptional power. Hurry, first rehearsal.”