Cate Blanchett to return to stage after six years

Actress Cate Blanchett is to return to the stage for the first time in six years, with a role in Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull.

The Oscar winner will play Arkadina in the new adaptation, which will also star Strike actor Tom Burke.

The show will play at the Barbican Theatre in London for six weeks from February.

Its director Thomas Ostermeier described Blanchett as a "once-in-a-generation actress".

The new adaptation will mark a reunion for Blanchett and Burke, who recently completed filming for Steven Soderbergh's forthcoming film Black Bag.

Ostermeier told BBC News: "I have known and admired Cate for many years, and to see her on stage is always a privilege.

"I am thrilled that we will make our first artistic collaboration with this production of The Seagull at the Barbican, and that London will experience this once-in-a-generation actress in one of the greatest theatrical roles of Arkadina.

"I’m also very pleased to be forging a new artistic relationship with Tom Burke, who will play the role of Trigorin."

Another production of The Seagull, starring Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke, played in London two years ago.

Blanchett's character Arkadina is a celebrated actress whose larger-than-life presence dominates both the stage and her personal relationships.

But when she arrives at her family's country estate for the weekend, she must navigate a series of conflicts.

Her son struggles to step out of her shadow, and her lover becomes the romantic target of an aspiring young actress. The play explores themes including ambition, vanity, disappointment and desire.

The Seagull will be produced by Wessex Grove, the same team behind Ostermeier's production of An Enemy of the People, which starred Matt Smith earlier this year.

Blanchett last performed on the Barbican stage in 2012's Big and Small (Gross und Klein).

Her last theatre role overall, however, was just before the Covid pandemic, in a 2019 production of When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other at the National Theatre.

Blanchett has had a long and varied film career, with credits including Carol, Nightmare Alley, Tar, Don't Look Up, Notes on a Scandal, Thor: Ragnarok and Ocean's 8.

She has been nominated for eight acting Oscars, winning twice - for The Aviator and Blue Jasmine.

Burke has appeared in The Wonder, Living, The Souvenir and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga as well as the BBC's Strike.