Troilus and Cressida - Matthew Kelly leads cast
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
MATTHEW Kelly (as Pandarus) will lead the cast of Matthew Dunster’s Troilus and Cressida, which runs in rep at Shakespeare’s Globe from July 22 (previews from July 12) to September 20, 2009.
Seven years have passed since the Greeks first began their siege of Troy to recapture Helen, and on the Trojan side of the walls the beautiful Cressida, aided and abetted by her hilariously intriguing uncle Pandarus, has embarked upon a passionate love affair with Prince Troilus. When Cressida is forced to join her treacherous father in the Greek camp, can their love survive a difficult separation or will it join the other casualties of war?
Although Kelly will always be remembered as a television presenter (Stars in Their Eyes), he has appeared regularly on stage and, in 2004, won the Best Actor Olivier for his performance as gentle giant Lennie in Birmingham Rep’s production of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men which transferred to the West End’s Savoy Theatre.
His more recent credits include Forgotten Voices (Riverside Studios), Victory: Choices in Reaction (Arcola Theatre) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Trafalgar Studios).
Joining Kelly in the cast will be Laura Pyper and Paul Stocker (in the title roles), Jamie Ballard, Paul Hunter, Chris Colquhoun, Trystan Gravelle, Ben Bishop, Olivia Chaney, Matthew Flynn, Richard Hansell, Fraser James, Seamus O’Neill, Ania Sowinski, John Stahl, Jay Taylor, Beru Tessema and Chinna Wodu.
The Globe’s first staging of Troilus and Cressida is part of the Young Hearts season that also includes Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Helen, A New World and Love’s Labour’s Lost.
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