From Borgen to the Bard

BIRGITTE HJORT SORENSEN will be the calm sea at the centre of one of Shakespeare’s most ruthless and bloodiest dramas.

The actress, who starred in Danish television hit Borgen, will play Virgilia, wife of military -victor-turned-political leader Coriolanus, in a production featuring Tom Hiddleston in the title role.

Hadley Fraser will play Coriolanus’s worthy foe, the mighty Aufidius, Mark Gatiss his loyal counsellor Menenius and Deborah Findlay the volcanic Volumnia — Virgilia’s mother-in-law.

Virgilia practises (sort of) a version of what Hillary Clinton tried to achieve when she was U.S. Secretary of State: soft power.

Birgitte agreed, adding: ‘She’s one of the few characters who doesn’t say a lot. It’s all going on inside. She’s the calm sea, almost, between her husband and Volumnia.’

The actress studied the Bard during her four years at the Danish National School of Performing Arts. And one of the highlights, she told me, was reading the part of Henry V . . . in English.

But she has never performed Shakespeare in the UK.

She recently joined some cast members for a read-through of the text, led by director Josie Rourke.

Official rehearsals commence at the end of the month and previews start at the Donmar Warehouse on December 6.

After the run ends on February 8, Birgitte will return to Denmark to lead a production of The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg. The third season of Borgen starts on BBC4 early in the New Year.