Big news for London's theater (or is that theatre?) scene today: After co-starring both on Broadway and the West End in Driving Miss Daisy, Vanessa Redgrave, 75, and James Earl Jones, 81, will play perpetually battling lovers Beatrice and Benedick in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, at a production next September at the Old Vic in London, directed by two-time Tony-winner Mark Rylance. (This seems to follow the trend of Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline playing the teenage Romeo and Juliet this past summer in Central Park. But since Shakespeare never specifies how old Beatrice and Benedick are in the play, there's no reason why the pair can't be in their 70s or 80s!)
According to the Old Vic's website, which also has links for tickets, the play will run from September 7 to November 16, 2013.
The New York Times is reporting that the Old Vic’s 2013 season, announced on Monday, will also include a production of Tennessee Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth starring Kim Cattrall, and a revival of Terrence Rattigan’s play The Winslow Boy, directed by Lindsay Posner, with a cast to be announced.
Photo courtesy Matt Humphrey and www.oldvictheatre.com.