Entertainment

Donmar Warehouse announces reopening plans with Kit Harington to play Henry V

The London venue will welcome back patrons in September for the first time since March last year.
The London venue will welcome back patrons in September for the first time since March last year. The London venue will welcome back patrons in September for the first time since March last year.

Game Of Thrones star Kit Harington will play Henry V following the reopening of the Donmar Warehouse, it has been announced.

The London theatre will welcome back patrons in September for the first time since March last year.

It has undergone renovation work, which the theatre says will significantly improve the venue’s accessibility.

Kit Harington
Kit Harington Kit Harington earned international acclaim for his role as Jon Snow on Game of Thrones (Kit Harington/PA)

Harington’s turn as Shakespeare’s Henry V – directed by Donmar associate director Max Webster – will run from February-April 2022.

Harington, best known for playing Jon Snow in sprawling TV series Game Of Thrones, said: “Henry V is the part I’ve always dreamed of playing and the Donmar, a stage I could only have dreamt of the chance to perform him on.

“It is a role that is fascinating for our times in its study of a complex and controversial leader. Max Webster is a fantastic director and I can’t wait to step on stage again…. It’s an honour to be part of the Donmar’s return”.

Rory Kinnear, who plays MI6 officer Bill Tanner in the recent James Bond films, will star in Force Majeure, Tim Price’s new stage adaptation of Ruben Ostlund’s award-winning comedy film about a family falling apart.

Originally scheduled for summer 2020, it will now run from December of this year to February 2022.

Kinnear said: “I couldn’t be more excited to be back working once again at the Donmar on Tim’s sensational adaptation of this modern classic. It’s the most magnificently intimate space in London – perfect for this absorbingly intimate and blackly hilarious new work.”

The Donmar’s reopening season will launch with Inua Ellams’ audience-led poetry event Search Party from September 21-25, the theatre said.

Love And Other Acts Of Violence, a new play by Cordelia Lynn, will open in October.

And the final production in the Donmar’s reopening season will be Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Marys Seacole, a play about the pioneering Jamaican nurse.

That is due to run from April-June next year.

The Donmar’s artistic director Michael Longhurst said: “I’m thrilled we’ve managed to expose the Donmar’s warehouse bones during our essential building works; stripping out the cramped bars and improving accessibility to make a welcoming space for artists and audiences to return to.

“We’re back with a season that mines history to examine our present; that holds society to account through personal stories; that is laced with comedy and poetry and packed full of talent for our shared entertainment.”