Gary Oldman to return to the stage for first play in 37 years

Gary Oldman is set to star in his first play in 37 years next spring.

The actor, who is currently appearing in the hit Apple TV+ series Slow Horses, will return to the theatre where he began his career – the York Theatre Royal – to perform in Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. Oldman first performed at that theatre 45 years ago in the Ben Travers play Thark.

Krapp’s Last Tape follows a man who records a new tape reflecting on the year gone by each year on his birthday. On his 69th birthday, a lonely Krapp prepares himself with a bottle of wine, a banana and his tape recorder.

Oldman has not taken on a theatre role since 1987, with London Royal Court’s Serious Money. He previously performed in Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the London production of Cabaret.

“When Gary visited us at the beginning of the year, it was fascinating hearing him recount stories of his time as a young man, in his first professional role on the York Theatre Royal stage,” said York Theatre Royal CEO Paul Crewes.

“In that context when we started to explore ideas, we realised Krapp’s Last Tape was the perfect project. I am very happy that audiences will have this unique opportunity to see Gary Oldman return to our stage in this brand new production.”

The show will begin with previews on April 14 and will run until May 17, 2025.

In other news, Slow Horses has been renewed by Apple TV+ for a sixth season, even before the fifth has aired. 

The show is based on the Slough House series of novels by Mick Herron and revolves around a group of British intelligence officers who have been demoted after having made significant mistakes. Gary Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the head of Slough House, alongside Kristin Scott Thomas, Jack Lowden and Jonathan Pryce.

“Audiences around the world have fallen in love with the Slow Horses, and I’m delighted that Gary Oldman will be leading this star-studded cast on another acerbic and action-packed adventure,” Jay Hunt, creative director of Europe for Apple TV+, said in a statement.

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