Star Trek’s Chris Pine will make his London stage debut at Ivanov next summer | stage

Star Trek star Chris Pine will boldly take to The Bridge next summer, but the actor, best known for playing James T. Kirk in the sci-fi reboot, will be trading the starship for the stage.

In his London stage debut, Payne has been cast in the lead role of a new version of Chekhov’s early play Ivanov by Australian writer-director Simon Stone. Produced by the London Theater Company, Ivanov will open in July at the Bridge Theatre, where Stone’s adaptation of Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea is currently underway.

Payne, who performed in theater while studying English at UC Berkeley, has had leading roles stateside in Ronan Noone’s The Atheist (in New York in 2006) and Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore (in Los Angeles in 2010). His films have included Wonder Woman, Don’t Worry Darling and 2023’s mysterious Poolman, which the actor also co-wrote and directed.

“I’m excited to bring this complex character and story to life and share in Simone’s unique creative process,” Payne said. Stone, whose previous successful London credits include Yerma with Billie Piper at the Young Vic in 2016, is known to write new scenes during the rehearsal process. He described Payne as a “uniquely sensitive and brilliantly intelligent” actor. “I’ve seen in his work how funny he can be but also how poignant: you can’t do Chekhov without both. Ivanov is his most complex male character, a challenge and a gift.”

Chekhov’s play, which premiered in 1887, concerns a debt-ridden landowner whose marriage reaches the breaking point. Kenneth Branagh took on the role opposite Andrea Riseborough in the 2008 West End remake by Tom Stoppard. David Hare’s version of the play was part of the Young Chekhov Trilogy performed at Chichester in 2015 and later at the National Theater in London.

“Chekhov is a master of finding the humor in our suffering and the crisis beneath our joy,” Stone said. “A mercurial magician in the drama of characters, he raises the seemingly banal to a sublime level and then pops the balloon just as it has become so poetic… During his career as a doctor, Chekhov developed a deep compassion and curiosity for his fellow man, and his writing pulses with a great human heart. The characters are gifts of complex, versatile actors: existence is chaotically and lovingly written.” “For deficiency.”

Running from July 4 to September 19, Ivanov will bring together 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 Schlepper, and casting director Jessica Ronan.