By Tim Masters
Arts and entertainment correspondent, BBC News
Mark Strong will soon be in the West End with A View from the Bridge
Actor Mark Strong has been honoured for his role in a play that lured him back to the theatre after 12 years in film.
Strong was named best actor at the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards for playing tragic hero Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge.
The play, originally staged at London’s Young Vic, also gained a best director award for Ivo Van Hove.
Helen McCrory won best actress for her title role in Greek tragedy Medea at the National Theatre.
Helen McCrory’s performance as Medea at the National Theatre received glowing reviews
Strong- whose film roles include Zero Dark Thirty and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – said he had chanced upon Miller’s classic drama when looking through film scripts at home.
“I picked it up and it was head and shoulders above everything else I was reading. I thought maybe this is the time to go back and do a play. Nothing had really come along that I wanted to do until this.”
Strong is now starting rehearsals ahead of the play’s transfer from the Young Vic to Wyndham’s Theatre in the heart of London’s theatre district.
“I love the fact that we are taking this little play from the Young Vic and going up against the big boys in the West End,” he said.
Other winners at the Critics’ Circle awards included Sir Anthony Sher, who received best Shakespearean performance for his role in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of the epic Henry IV Parts I & II.
“Falstaff is one of Shakespeare’s most astonishing creations,” Sir Anthony said. “I had no plans to play it – it …read more
Source:: BBC Entertainment
