Comedian David Mitchell will make his West End debut next year as William Shakespeare in a stage version of Ben Elton’s hit sitcom Upstart Crow.
The actor, best known for Peep Show and Would I Lie To You?, has already starred in three series of the show which portrays the bard as a harassed family man stressed out by commuting between London and Stratford-Upon-Avon while trying to write his plays.
He will be joined on stage by Games of Thrones star Gemma Whelan who will reprise her TV role as aspiring actress Kate whose father is Shakespeare’s London landlord.
The play, which is specially written for the stage, is set in 1605 and sees the bard struggling to produce a hit drama after the relative flops of Measure for Measure and All’s Well that End’s Well.
Mitchell said: “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to bring history’s most famous balding dramatist to the West End via the amazing comic imagination of Ben Elton.
“Theatre-goers can look forward to a comedy steeped in authentic Shakespearean ambience in every way apart from the smell.”
Upstart Crow opens at the Gielgud Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue on February 7. Tickets available from 12 noon today from upstartcrowthecomedy.com
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