Veteran actress Siân Phillips is to star in new show Lovesong, the latest play from The Hour writer Abi Morgan, which plays at the Lyric Hammersmith early next year.
Phillips, who most recently starred in the Bristol Old Vic’s production of Romeo And Juliet that shifted Shakespeare’s classic to a nursing home, is joined in the show by Sam Cox, Edward Bennett and Leanne Rowe.
Lovesong, which is staged by innovative theatre company Frantic Assembly, intertwines the story of lovers in their 20s (Bennett and Rowe) with the same man and woman a lifetime later (Cox and Phillips).
In addition to Romeo And Juliet, Phillips recently toured in the stage adaptation of Calendar Girls. The experienced actress won a BAFTA earlier in her career for her performance in I, Claudius.
Cox has London credits including All’s Well That End’s Well and Anne Boleyn at Shakespeare’s Globe, while Bennett, whose credits include the Bridge Project productions of As You Like It and The Tempest, was thrust into the limelight when David Tennant was injured during the London run of the RSC’s Hamlet and, as understudy, Bennett stepped in on press night. Rowe joins the company having starred in the West End production of Dirty Dancing.
Lovesong begins a UK tour at the Drum Theatre, Plymouth in September, before arriving at the Lyric Hammersmith on 11 January.
MA