Guildford Shakespeare Company has announced that actor Brian Blessed will be joining the company to play Shakespeare's King Lear in its opening production of 2015.
This will be the first time that Blessed has played this iconic role on stage. The production will also be the first time that he has worked on stage with his actress-daughter Rosalind, who will be playing one of Lear's three daughters, Goneril.
A Surrey resident, Brian is one of this country's best known and most highly respected actors with many memorable performances to his credit, including the creation of the role of Old Deuteronomy in the original production of Cats, but he is perhaps most well-known for the popular role of Vultan in the film Flash Gordon.
This production, staged in Surrey's largest Georgian church on Guildford High Street, will be Guildford Shakespeare Company's 24th since its inception in 2006. The award-winning company is led by actor-managers, Sarah Grobran and Matt Pinches.
Caroline Devlin directs her sixth production for the company. She is joined by designer Neil Irish, lighting designer Declan Randal and sound designer Matt Eaton, who are all regular creatives for the Guildford-based company.
King Lear has a strictly limited run (25 performances), and the intimate setting of the Georgian church means a strictly limited seating capacity.
Public booking opens on 4 November; GSC Friends priority booking opens 14 October.