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Star Trek’s Chris Pine will boldly go to the Bridge next summer but the actor, best known for playing James T Kirk in the sci-fi reboot, is swapping the starship for the stage.
For his London theatre debut, Pine has been cast in the title role of a new version of Chekhov’s early play Ivanov by Australian writer-director Simon Stone. Produced by London Theatre Company, Ivanov will open in July at the Bridge theatre, where Stone’s update of Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea is now running.
Pine, who performed in theatre productions while studying English at the University of California in Berkeley, had lead roles in the US in The Atheist by Ronan Noone (in New York in 2006) and The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh (in Los Angeles in 2010). His films have included Wonder Woman, Don’t Worry Darling and the 2023 mystery Poolman, which the actor also co-wrote and directed.
“I’m excited to bring this complex character and story to life and to take part in Simon’s singular creative process,” said Pine. Stone, whose past London hits include Yerma with Billie Piper at the Young Vic in 2016, is known for writing new scenes throughout his rehearsal process. He called Pine a “uniquely sensitive and brilliantly intelligent” actor. “I’ve seen in his work how hilarious he can be but also how moving: you can’t do Chekhov without both. Ivanov is the most knotty of his male characters, a challenge and a gift.”
Chekhov’s play, first performed in 1887, concerns a landowner who is heavily in debt and whose marriage reaches breaking point. Kenneth Branagh took the role opposite Andrea Riseborough in the West End in 2008 in a new version by Tom Stoppard. David Hare’s version of the play was part of the Young Chekhov trilogy staged in Chichester in 2015 and later at the National Theatre in London.
“Chekhov is the master of finding the humour in our suffering and the crisis lurking underneath our joy,” said Stone. “A mercurial magician of character drama, he elevates the seemingly banal to the sublime and then pops the balloon just as it’s getting too poetic … During his career as a doctor, Chekhov developed a deep empathy and curiosity for his fellow human, and his writing beats with the heart of a great humanist. The characters are gifts to complex, versatile actors: existence writ messily and lovingly, an ode to imperfection.”
Ivanov will run from 4 July to 19 September and reunites Stone’s creative team for The Lady from the Sea: set designer Lizzie Clachan, costume designer Mel Page, composition and sound designer Stefan Gregory, lighting designer Nick Schlieper and casting director Jessica Ronane.
