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Tony Gilroy’s wildly acclaimed Disney+ Star Wars series Andor has made breakout stars of numerous actors, many of whom were already well-established Brit theatre stalwarts – Denise Gough and Kyle Soller perhaps being the most obvious examples.
But for many the big star of the second and final series was young British actor Elizabeth Dulau, whose small series one role as Kleya Marki – assistant to Stellan Skarsgård’s spymaster Luthen Rael – was greatly expanded into a much bigger, much more nerve-wracking season two role (no spoilers, but the episode in which she infiltrates a hospital is not for the faint of heart).
Dulau had done a little stage work prior to Andor, with roles in shows at the Young Vic and Southwark Playhouse. But now she’s bona fide lead actor material, and the next main house play at Hampstead Theatre has a very juicy lead role for her. She’ll play the young Victorian woman named Mary Ann Evans, who would later go on to literary immortality under her pen name George Eliot, in Alexi Kaye Campbell’s new play Bird Grove.
Bird Grove concerns the attempts of Evans’ father Thomas to marry her off just as she stood on the cusp of greatness. Dulau will play Eliot and Owen Teale will portray Thomas in Anna Ledwich’s world premiere production at Hampstead Theatre, a mid-size off-West End mainstay that should offer a safe space for Dulau to give a first flex of her leading lady muscles.
Bird Grove is at Hampstead Theatre, Feb 13-Mar 21. Buy tickets here.
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