Hollywood stars often find themselves with the reputation for possessing somewhat of a healthy ego and here at Official London Theatre we may even have met some of these big headed offenders. All of us on the team, however, can attest that X-Men James McAvoy is certainly not one of them.
Brilliantly down to earth, from our experiences of the actor he’s possibly the last person we’d ever accuse of having a God complex. Good thing, then, he’s also an actor of Olivier Award nominee standard as he prepares to take on the role of a paranoid schizophrenic who quite literally thinks he’s Jesus Christ.
Yes, Trafalgar Transformed’s Artistic Director Jamie Lloyd is turning the surreal tables on us once more for the much-anticipated first ever West End revival of Peter Barnes’ acclaimed black comedy The Ruling Class since its premiere in 1969.
Exposing the foibles of the English nobility, the story of tells the story of McAvoy’s Jack as he inherits the title of the 14th Earl of Gurney. Singularly unsuited to a life in the upper echelons of elite society, he soon finds himself at the centre of a ruthless power struggle as his scheming family strives to uphold their reputation.
As Lloyd and McAvoy reunite following their collaboration on 2013’s hugely successful Macbeth, photographer Marc Brenner snuck into rehearsals to take a peek into how things are shaping up, with dancing clearly on the day’s agenda.
The Ruling Class will play at Trafalgar Studio 1 from 16 January, following cult comedy East Is East, which comes to the end of its run on 3 January.