Homeland star Damian Lewis will return to the London stage next spring to lead David Mamet’s dark heist comedy American Buffalo.
The production will be directed by Lewis’ former drama school colleague, Sheffield Theatre’s acclaimed Artistic Director and Olivier Award-winning actor Daniel Evans, and play a limited season at the Wyndham’s Theatre from 16 April to 27 June.
Lewis, an Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner for his breakthrough role as Sergeant Nicholas Brody in the hugely successful US series, will play the role of Walter “Teach” Cole, one of three small-time crooks who decide to plan one big-time heist.
Alongside fellow criminals Donny Dubrow and Bobby, their plan soon spins into a tragedy of errors as greed overtakes loyalty in Mamet’s seminal tale of the fickle nature of honour among thieves.
Commenting on his return to the West End, Lewis said: “David Mamet is one of our greatest living playwrights and I’m thrilled to be performing in his brilliant American Buffalo.
It’s exciting for me to be back on stage, particularly as I will have the pleasure of working with director, Daniel Evans, who I trained with at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. We’ve always wanted to work together and I really can’t think of a more exciting project to partner on.”
Now one of Britain’s most well-known actors, Lewis’ breakthrough role came in 2001 when he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in Steven Spielberg’s HBO miniseries Band Of Brothers. British audiences will also remember his acclaimed role in ITV’s hugely popular adaptation of The Forsyte Saga, and he will soon be seen starring as Henry VIII opposite Mark Rylance in BBC Two’s adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies.
Lewis’ most recent stage outing came in 2009 when he started alongside fellow screen star Kiera Knightley in The Misanthrope. His other stage credits include Five Gold Rings at the Almeida, the National Theatre’s 2005 production of Ibsen’s Pillars Of The Community, as well as numerous credits at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Evan’s revival of American Buffalo will follow Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III into the Wyndham’s Theatre when the Almeida transfer comes to the end of its run on 31 January.