Maisie Williams and Glenda Jackson are both taking to the stage. “Game of Thrones” star and theater newbie Williams will make her drama debut in Lauren Gunderson’s “I And You,” and Tony winner Jackson will take on the lead role in “King Lear.”
According to BBC News, “I And You” will see Williams playing Caroline, a sick teenager who hasn’t gone to school in months. Caroline strikes up a friendship with Anthony, a classmate, when he brings over her homework.
“I And You” will run at London’s Hampstead Theatre October 25-November 24. Hampstead’s artistic director, Edward Hall, will helm the production.
Gunderson topped American Theatre’s most-produced playwrights list for 2017-18. Her plays include the “Pride and Prejudice”-inspired “Miss Bennet” and “Ada and the Engine,” a biographical work about trailblazing mathematician Ada Lovelace.
Williams has starred as Arya Stark on “Game of Thrones” since the show began in 2011. She most recently appeared in “Mary Shelley,” Haifaa Al-Mansour’s biopic about the eponymous “Frankenstein” author. Last fall Williams, with actor Bill Milner and producer Dom Santry, launched production company Daisy Chain Productions in the hopes of supporting UK projects from new talent.
The news of Jackson’s casting in “King Lear” comes only a couple weeks after her Tony win for “Three Tall Women.” Per The Hollywood Reporter, she’ll star in Shakespeare’s classic tragedy about a mentally deteriorating monarch on Broadway in spring 2019.
No theater has been confirmed yet, but previews begin March 6 and the official opening will be April 11. Scott Rudin (“Lady Bird”) is producing. A director and other cast members will be revealed in the coming weeks.
“King Lear” marks a reprise for Jackson: she portrayed Lear in Deborah Warner’s 2016 production at London’s Old Vic.
“Performing ‘King Lear’ in London was a wonderful and fulfilling experience, but this is a role you continue to work on and to make new discoveries [about],” Jackson stated. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to explore the role anew, and look forward to the challenge of performing it on Broadway.”
“Three Tall Women” closed on Sunday. Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play centers on a caustic elderly woman and those tending to her on her deathbed. Jackson, who served in Britain’s Parliament as a Labour MP for over two decades, has also acted in productions of “Macbeth,” “Rose,” and “Strange Interlude.”
Jackson is two-time Oscar winner. She took home best actress trophies in 1971 and 1974 for “Women in Love” and “A Touch of Class,” respectively. In 1972 she received two Emmys for her turn as Queen Elizabeth I in “Elizabeth R,” one for best single performance, and another for best continued performance.
