The production forms part of the theatre’s first season and will begin performances from the 11th February 2023.
It has been announced that Sophie Okonedo is set to star as the title role in this production of the play by Euripides adapted for this production by Robinson Jeffers. She will be joined by Ben Daniels as Jason/Creon/Aegeus, with further casting to be confirmed.
Medea tells the story of a woman laid bare by grief and rage, and her terrible quest for revenge against the men who have abandoned her.
The production is being produced by Fictionhouse Limited (Good, Harold pinter Theatre), Nica Burns and Kate Pakenham Productions and is set to be directed by Dominic Cooke.
Medea sees Dominic Cooke reuniting with long-term collaborators’ Sophie Okonedo and Ben Daniels, most recently with BBC’s The Hollow Crown – Wars of the Roses, in addition to working together across multiple stage productions since the 1990s.
Sophie Okonedo’s theatre credits include: Antony and Cleopatra (National Theatre – Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress; and nominated for Best Actress Olivier Award); The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? (Theatre Royal Haymarket); The Crucible (Walter Kerr Theatre, New York – Nominated for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play, Tony Awards) and A Raisin In The Sun (Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York – Tony Award for Best Performance By An Actress In A Featured Role In A Play and Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance Award).
Talking about the news, Sophie Okonedo said: “I am really excited and a touch nervous to be playing Medea. I’m buoyed by the fact I’m working with two of my closest friends and long-term collaborators, Dominic Cooke and Ben Daniels. I was lucky enough to have Nica Burns show me around the new @sohoplace theatre while it was still being built, and I was so impressed by the space that I signed up immediately to perform there!”
Meanwhile, Ben Daniels’s recent theatre credits include: The Normal Heart (National Theatre – Winner of Best Actor, Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards, Nominated for Best Actor, Olivier Awards), Therese Raquin, Iphigenia at Aulis, Three Sisters and All My Sons (Olivier Award and a Whatsonstage Award for Best Supporting Actor)National Theatre and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Roundabout Theatre Company New York- Theatre World Award for Breakthrough Broadway Performance, Tony Nomination for Best Actor, Drama
Desk and an Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Actor).
The creative team behind the production is set to include designs by Vicki Mortimer, lighting by Neil Austin and sound by Gareth Fry.
To book tickets for the production visit: https://sohoplace.org/whats-on/medea