Game of Thrones star Kit Harington will return to the London stage in the upcoming production of Jeremy O. Harris’ acclaimed and controversial Slave Play.
Despite the star casting, Slave Play playwright Jeremy O. Harris assures audiences that Harington’s presence will not be a “distraction.”
In an interview with London’s The Guardian, Harris said Harington was emphatic that the ensemble piece not be turned into “the Jon Snow experience” (a reference to Harington’s character on Thrones).
“Kit was saying ‘I don’t want this to be Kit Harington in Slave Play, this is an ensemble play and I’m not even the lead,’” Harris told the newspaper. “He knows the weight his name carries and how that could become a distraction, if we allowed it to be.”
Harington will play the role of Jim, originated on Broadway by Paul Alexander Nolan. The character is involved in a troublesome interracial, heterosexual partnership that is one several relationships examined via “Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy,” a (fictional) therapy technique that uses re-enactments of Old South scenarios to reinvigorate the relationships.
Harington has a strong history of London stage performances, having appeared in, among others, War Horse, Doctor Faustus, True West and Henry V.
In addition to Harington, the Slave Play cast will include Fisayo Akinade, Aaron Heffernan, Olivia Washington and, reprising their Broadway roles, James Cusati-Moyer, Chalia La Tour, Annie McNamara and Irene Sofia Lucio.
The production, directed by Robert O’Hara, begins performances June 29 at the West End‘s Noël Coward Theatre, running through Sept. 21.
Nominated for 12 Tony Awards, Slave Play was staged in 2019 at Broadway’s John Golden Theatre, having originated the year prior at New York Theatre Workshop Off Broadway.
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