Kit thrown into hell as Dr Faustus
KIT HARINGTON, the Game of Thrones star, is willingly going to hell.
The actor will mark his return to the stage by playing the titular role in Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus in April at the Duke of York’s Theatre. He will be directed by Jamie Lloyd.
Harington, who has played the heroic and long-suffering Jon Snow in five seasons of the HBO drama Game Of Thrones, was last on stage in the original company of Laura Wade’s play Posh at the Royal Court six years ago.
His only other professional stage work was playing Albert Narracott in War Horse. Before that, he studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in Swiss Cottage.
He has been wanting to return to the boards for some time — I remember chatting to him at Harvey Weinstein’s pre-BAFTA party 12 months ago and he said he was ‘actively looking’ for stage work.
Doctor Faustus is about a physician who makes a pact, in blood, with the devil. Lucifer gets the Doctor’s soul. But for 24 years, Faustus gets infinite knowledge and the chance to indulge in any and every fantasy he desires. He becomes well acquainted with the Seven Deadly Sins in the process.
Game of Thrones hurled Harington into the global spotlight when the HBO series, based on George R.R. Martin’s novels, was screened on TV for the first time in 2011 and became an international sensation.
His character, the bastard of Winterfell, rises through the course of the saga to become Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch — despite being told repeatedly: ‘You know nothing, Jon Snow.’
He was apparently assassinated in the final episode of season five. But there has been sprawling global debate on social media about whether or not he’s really dead.
Harington says he is (dead); as do executives on the show. But there’s still a lot of chatter claiming Snow will return in Season 6, which will begin broadcasts here at the end of April. I suggest that fans of Mr Harington should tune in!
Rehearsals for Doctor Faustus begin in March. Tickets go on sale from Tuesday, and the production is part of director Lloyd’s long-term production deal with the Ambassador Theatre Group.
Lloyd and ATG currently have an electrifying revival of Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming on at the Trafalgar Studios (the Jamie Lloyd Company’s regular home), which will be followed by The Maids, from February 20, starring Uzo Aduba (Suzanne ‘Crazy Eyes’ Warren in Orange Is The New Black), Zawe Ashton and Laura Carmichael.