Breaking Baz: Oscar-Nominated Stars Colman Domingo & Jeremy Strong In Talks To Make Their Debuts At UK’s National Theatre
EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-nominated actors Colman Domingo and Jeremy Strong are in discussions about making their debuts at London’s National Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham, the landmark institution’s artistic director and co-chief executive has confirmed to Deadline.
“They’re the real deal, and I want them here at the National,” Rubasingham says. “I’m talking to them about what they might want to do here.”
Rubasingham, as we reported, announced her inaugural season of plays and musicals Tuesday, featuring an array of starry names with strong stage chops that include Paul Mescal (Gladiator II), Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown), Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton) and Aidan Turner (Rivals). All have signed on to take their bows on the National’s stages.
The National Theatre’s Indhu Rubasingham. Photo by Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
Lesley Manville (The Crown), a leading artist who long has trodden the National’s boards, returns to lead director Marianne Elliott’s major revival of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ Dangerous connectionsadapted by Christopher Hampton. Barbaro and Turner will appear alongside Manville.
Strong, who won the Tony Award last year for his lead performance in Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the Peoplehas expressed a determined desire to perform in London.
Rubasingham and Strong have had conversations about both new and classic works. Strong won an Emmy Award for his compelling turn as Kendall Roy in Succession, and his potent portrayal of discredited lawyer Roy Cohn in The Apprentice was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
The actor is preparing to star in Peter Morgan’s adaptation of Ira Levin’s The Boys from Brazil for Netflix. He’ll play Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman, the part Laurence Olivier played in Franklin J. Schaffner’s 1978 movie that also starred Gregory Peck as Josef Mengele, the SS physician known as “The Angel of Death.”
Strong also appears as Bruce Springsteen’s longtime producer and manager Jon Landau in director Scott Cooper’s Bruce Springsteen film Deliver Me from Nowhere.
Jeremy Strong in ‘An Enemy of the People’
Emilio Madrid
Rubasingham and Domingo go back a long way. In 2013, she invited the actor to bring his one-man show A Boy and His Soul to the Tricycle Theatre (now known as The Kiln Theatre) when she was artistic director of the arts venue in Kilburn, NW London.
In 2014, Domingo garnered an Olivier Award nomination for the West End transfer of Broadway show The Scottsboro Boys. His connections to London’s theatre world run deep: For instance, he became an executive producer of Ryan Calais Cameron’s play Retrogradeabout Sidney Poitier’s early acting career, when it moved across town from The Kiln Theatre to the Nimax-owned Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue.
However, it’ll be awhile before Rubasingham gets to collaborate with Domingo. He went from shooting Gus Van Sant’s kidnap thriller Dead Man’s Wire in Kentucky to filming Steven Spielberg’s Untitled Event Movie, about UFOs, in New York. Then he’ll work on Season 3 of Euphoria before embarking on a slate of other projects.
Colman Domingo in London (Baz Free / Deadline)
Domingo whispered in my ear that he’s trying to sort a show and a date for the National, perhaps for the 2026-27 season or later in 2028. He received back-to-back Best Actor Academy Award nominations the past two years for his performances in Rustin and Sing Sing. He’s also so good in Netflix’s new bittersweet comedy miniseries The Four Seasons with Tina Fey, Will Forte, Steve Carell, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Marco Calvani and Erika Henningsen. I loved the show, but the very idea of sharing a vacation with other couples fills me with nothing but dread. And I speak from bitter experience.
Rubasingham will direct an updated version of the Ancient Greek tale Bacchus by Nima Taleghani with James McArdle (Mare of Easttown), Clare Perkins (Wheel of Time) and fact roach (Wolf) in the Olivier Theatre from September 13. At a special event at the National, Perkins introduced a vibrant scene from the show — which raised the roof, and then some.
Clare Perkins performing a scene from ‘Bacchae’ at the National Theatre (Baz Bamigboye/Deadline)
The National’s program also includes director Robert Hastie’s production of Hamletstarring Olivier Award-winning actor Hiran Abeysekera (Life of Pi) as the Danish prince at the Lyttelton Theatre from September.
And, after years of development, former Old Vic artistic chief Matthew Warchus will direct a musical version of the film Pride, which he directed in 2014 from a screenplay by Stephen Beresford. The pic won a BAFTA Film Award for Outstanding Debut.
The movie, about a seemingly unlikely alliance between queer activists and National Union of Mineworkers during the bitter miners strike in 1984, was a popular hit in the UK and featured a marvelous ensemble that included Bill Nighy (Living), Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers), George MacKay (1917), Ben Schnetzer (Y: The Last Man), Imelda Staunton (The Crown), Jessica Gunning (Baby Reindeer), Dominic West (Rogue Heroes), Monica Dolan (Sherwood), Paddy Considine (MobLand), Joe Gilgun (Brassic), Faye Marsay (Adolescence) and Freddie Fox (House of the Dragon).
From left: ’Pride’ castmembers Andrew Scott, Ben Schnetzer, Paddy Considine, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West and George MacKay (Pathe UK).
Beresford has written the book and lyrics for the Pride musical. The National is presenting the show in partnership with P&P Productions, a private company established in 2022 by Warchus, Beresford; David Livingstone, who produced the film; and Nia Janis, one of the three founders of West End-based Playful Productions.
