EXCLUSIVE: : Slow horses star Gary Oldman returns to the stage in April 2025 for the first time after an absence of almost forty years to star in Samuel Beckfamous one man play ett Krappa The last tape for a limited season at the British Theater where the actor began his professional career in 1979.
Oldman, who won an Oscar for “Darkest Hour,” is in London filming season 6 of the acclaimed spy drama Slow Horses on Apple TV+. He will play the famous Beckett veteran, struggling to listen to a tape he recorded 39 years ago at the York Theater Royal in North Yorkshire from April 14 to May 17.
There are no plans to move the production to London's West End or Broadway, Douglas Urbański, the actor's longtime business partner and manager, told me when I found him in the early hours of Wednesday morning in London.
Performing Beckett's 1958 classic, Oldman retraces his steps to the York Theater Royal, where he made his name in 1979 after graduating from Rose Bruford College, the esteemed performing arts campus in Sidcup on the outskirts of central London.
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Young Oldman's first job took him to York, where he played a number of roles in a wide variety of shows, starting with Oliver Goldsmith's comedy Restoration He leans in to win to Peter Nichols Privates on parade, but nothing topped his Cat in pantomime Dick Whittington.
Earlier in the year, Oldman revisited York's Theater Royal. He then began to explore the possibility of treading the boards again.
York Theater Royal chief executive Paul Crewe said in a statement that he had become aware of this Krapp's last tape “it was an excellent project. I am very pleased that viewers will have the unique opportunity to see Gary Oldman return to our stage in this completely new production.
Oldman's last theater appearance was in Caryl Churchill's 1987 satirical play Serious money at the London Royal Court with a band that included Meera Syal, Alfred Molina, Alan Corduner and his then wifeLesley Manville.
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“Both Gary and I come from the theater, he was here and I was there, in America, and ever since then we've been talking and talking and talking about his performances in the theater,” says Urbański, who has been the architect of Oldman's career for nearly 40 years : “I don't have the date handy.”
Before Serious moneyOldman starred in a number of productions at the Royal Court and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
His first and last appearance in the West End proper alongside Glenda Jackson and Georgina. Hale in Robert David MacDonald's dull drama Summit Conference at the Lyric on Shaftesbury Avenue in 1982.
Over the years, Oldman has told me and others that he never felt comfortable with the idea of playing in the West End “after this.”
He prefers intimate spaces such as the Royal Court or the Almeida Theater.
Director of Krapp's last tape hasn't been announced, but I understand Oldman will direct himself.
Meanwhile, Oldman dressed up as Jackson Lamb and filmed season 6 of the show Slow horses in London and surrounding areas from mid-September. Filming will last until the end of February.
Gary Oldman in “Slow Horses”
Apple
The series is based on Mick Herron's novels about the misfits of the British secret service at Slough House, overseen by Oldman's neglected scoundrel, the brilliant Jackson Lamb. More Herron novels are on the way, which means seasons 7 and 8 are all but certain.
Seasons 7 and 8 in my opinion Slow horses Filming will take place from September to October 2025.
I was lucky enough to capture several of Oldman's performances for the Royal Court and the Royal Shakespeare Company. But his film career took off thanks to the phenomenal portrayals he created Sid and Nancy AND Prick up your earsI had a feeling it would be a while before the scene could get him back.
The time has come.
