Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell have been signed on to play sparring lovers Benedick and Beatrice in the romantic comedy "Much Ado About Nothing".
Sigourney Weaver is also set to make her West End stage debut as storm-creating sorcerer Prospero in "The Tempest".
Both plays are directed by Jamie Lloyd who returns William Shakespeare early this winter to the historic Theatre Royal Drury Lane, a landmark venue in Covent Garden owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The first preview of "The Tempest" is December 7, and it runs through February 1. The first "Much Ado About Nothing "preview is on February 10 and runs until April 5.
Weaver, star of Ridley Scott’s Alien movies and James Cameron’s Avatar epics, last starred in one of Will’s plays when she played Portia in a 1986 off-Broadway revival of "The Merchant of Venice".
As a sophomore at Stanford, she played Goneril in a traveling production of King Lear.
Working on "The Tempest" at Drury Lane will sort of complete a circle of coincidence for Weaver. She’ll be taking on a role last performed there by John Gielgud.
Her first Broadway credit in 1975 was to work on a revival of W. Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife, starring Ingrid Bergman. Weaver worked as an assistant stage manager and understudy. The production was directed by Gielgud.
“Sigourney knows her Shakespeare, she knows theater, and I could not be more excited that she has agreed to play this role,“ Lloyd said.
He also added that he’s “thrilled” that “my dear friends Tom and Hayley” are headlining "Much Ado About Nothing" in his Jamie Lloyd Company Drury Lane Shakespeare season.
Lloyd goes way back with Hiddleston, even further with Atwell.
In 2019, he directed a hauntingly sublime version of Harold Pinter’s "Betrayal" with Hiddleston, Zawe Ashton, and Charlie Cox at the Harold Pinter Theatre. It quickly transferred to the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre for a limited run, where it was nominated for four Tony Awards.
Lloyd has remained close to his cast ever since.
Likewise with Atwell, who he directed in Alexi Kaye Campbell’s 2011 play "The Faith Machine" at London’s Royal Court Theatre.
They reunited two years later in a revival of Kaye’s "The Pride", in which Atwell excelled, at the Trafalgar Studios. It was an early example of Lloyd’s then-nascent Jamie Lloyd Company, which at the time was in partnership with ATG Entertainment.
He added that it was “very meaningful” for him to be working with “those two old collaborators, they’re Jamie Lloyd Company alumni. And I think they’re both two of the finest of our generation, aren’t they? And they know each other well. So there’s an instant chemistry between the two of them, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with for Benedick and Beatrice.”
Lloyd’s enjoyed watching Hiddleston and Atwell on screens both big and small. He mentioned Hiddleston’s performance in "The Night Manager" — he’s in the midst of shooting its sequel — and the actor’s adventures playing Loki in the various levels of the Marvel Universe.
“And he still comes home to the theatre whenever he can,” Lloyd marveled.
Atwell soared in the Marvel Universe as well, plus she has been starring with Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One" and its follow-up "Mission: Impossible 8".
She was remarkable in a revival of Rosmersholm, directed by Ian Rickson at the Duke of York’s in 2019, the year before she played Isabel for director Josie Rourke in Measure for Measure at the Donmar Warehouse.
“So she’s the real deal,” Lloyd declared. “Both are, and they’re also both very witty people. … They’ve got this great intelligence, this great wit,”.
Lloyd observed, perfect qualities for "Much Ado About Nothing", which he called “a joyful play.”
Both productions of "The Tempest" and "Much Ado About Nothing" will be stripped back, and he will ponder with frequent collaborator Soutra Gilmour on how the shows will look and feel.
There’s a shipwreck in "The Tempest", but Lloyd won’t reveal whether he’s tempted or not to place one on the Drury Lane’s boards. However, unlike his Sunset Boulevard and Romeo and Juliet productions, he won’t be using video as part of the performance for the Drury Lane shows.
“They’ll be stripped down, but no video. I’m saving all the video energy for Sunset Boulevard on Broadway,” he explained.
The two Shakespeares will run between Disney’s "Frozen", which closes September 8, and the musical "Hercules", which stages in summer 2025.
Rehearsals for "The Tempest" will begin in London on October 28, “literally a week after we open Sunset on Broadway,” Lloyd said.
The Jamie Lloyd Company will produce the season alone without the participation of ATG Entertainment.
The 16-week Shakespeare season will feature 25,000 tickets for £25 [US$32] and they’ll be “ring-fenced exclusively” for under-30s, key workers, and those receiving government benefits.
Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Built in 1763, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane became a popular venue for performances of Shakespeare.
Lloyd Webber and his LW Theatre company spent an estimated $77M on a superbly realized restoration of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
He noted several times that he wanted Shakespeare back at The Lane, as it’s affectionately known because he fondly remembers at age 9 being taken to see Gielgud in "The Tempest".
“And it clearly made an impression on him,” said Lloyd.
The two men formed a close bond when they worked on the now-Broadway-bound Olivier Award-winning "Sunset Boulevard" starring an incandescent Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond.
“Andrew told me the story about Gielgud snapping Prospero’s staff on the last night and announcing that The Lane would be lost to musicals forever,” the director added.
"Oklahoma!" and other shows had preceded "The Tempest", and it was to be immediately followed by "My Fair Lady" and many other musicals since.
One day, the composer and impresario told Lloyd, ”Look, I’ve always wanted Shakespeare back at Drury Lane.”
Lloyd was shown around the theatre, was open to exploring “all the possibilities” and felt excited to be the first company to bring Shakespeare back to The Lane.
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