Theatre News

Saoirse Ronan to make UK stage debut in Almeida Macbeth

The season also features ”Hymn” and ”Spring Awakening”

Saoirse Ronan
Saoirse Ronan

Saoirse Ronan will make her UK theatre debut later this year when she stars in a feminist rereading of Macbeth at the Almeida Theatre.

Ronan, a four-time Oscar nominee, will reunite with her Mary Queen of Scots co-star James McCardle in Yaël Farber's production, The Tragedy of Macbeth, which opens in September.

The Almeida reopens in June with And Breathe …, an adaptation of Yomi Ṣode's forthcoming poetry collection Manorism. Miranda Cromwell will direct the production, which stars David Jonsson (BBC's Industry).

Next up is Lolita Chakrabarti's two-hander Hymn, starring Adrian Lester and Danny Sapani, which returns in the summer. It's followed by the world premiere of Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia by Josh Azouz, a "dark comedy" about Arab-Israeli history directed by Eleanor Rhode.

The venue's Christmas show is a revival of Spring Awakening directed by Goold and starring Laurie Kynaston and Amara Okereke. The cast will also feature a range of new drama school graduates in recognition of the difficulties they have faced this year. Read more here.

Next year will see the premiere of a collection of short plays titled The Key Workers Cycle, by writers including Nessah Muthy and Danusia Samal, which will be performed by professional actors, members of the local community and key workers.

Previously postponed productions of Jeremy O. Harris' Daddy: A Melodrama, Beth Steel's The House of Shades and Carmen Nasr's The Maladies will also be staged in 2022.

Almeida artistic director Rupert Goold said: "Although still battered and bruised by the last 14 months, and keenly aware that many within this industry continue to suffer as a result of the pandemic, this announcement today feels like an exhalation and moment to pay tribute to the endurance and creativity shown by so many friends and colleagues."