Jeremy Irons to Star in RSC’s The Gods Weep

Jeremy Irons will return to the Royal Shakespeare Company in March after an absence of 23 years. He will star in Dennis Kelly’s new play The Gods Weep, which runs care of the RSC at London’s Hampstead Theatre, March 11-April 3, with an opening on March 17. Maria Aberg will direct.

In Kelly’s Shakespeare-inspired tale of corporate greed, Irons plays Colm, a CEO who has spent his life building a global empire with brutal rigour. But when he decides to divide power between his subordinates, his world begins to fracture and a bloody power struggle ensues.

The cast will also include Helen Schlesinger, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Karen Archer, Neal Barry, Babou Ceesay, Sam Hazeldine, Joanna Horton, Stephen Noonan, Luke Norris, Sally Orrock, Laurence Spellman, John Stahl, and Matthew Wilson. The production is designed by David Holmes.

Irons was last with the RSC in 1986/7 playing Leontes in The Winter’s Tale and the title role in Richard II. More recently, he’s been seen on stage in Never So Good at the National, Embers in the West End and, last year on Broadway in Impressionism. He’s become best known internationally for his screen work including Kingdom of Heaven, Being Julia, Reversal of Fortune, Elizabeth 1, Appaloosa, The Merchant of Venice and Brideshead Revisited.

Kelly’s other credits include Taking Care of Baby, Osama the Hero, After the End, Love and Money, and Orphans.

For more information, visit www.whatsonstage.com.