The Stage

Exclusive: Spooks star Armitage plans return to stage

Published Thursday 22 April 2010 at 11:52 by Matthew Hemley

Spooks actor Richard Armitage is set to return to the theatre after a hiatus of almost a decade, with plans for the performer to appear in a new production of Restoration comedy The Rover.

Armitage, who started his career in theatre, made his last major appearance on stage in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2000/1 production of The Duchess of Malfi at the Barbican.

He subsequently took part in a rehearsed reading of a new play presented by the Operating Theatre Company in 2002, but has spent the last eight years focused on television.

Armitage is now hoping to make a return to the theatre and he told The Stage he was particularly keen to do some comedy, because his most recent roles have seen him appear in action-based TV dramas, such as Spooks and Robin Hood. His latest is the Sky One series Strike Back, which is based on Chris Ryan’s book.

The LAMDA-trained actor said he wanted to have a “bit more of a laugh” and revealed that one of the options he is considering is a new production of Aphra Behn’s The Rover.

He said: “I did it at drama school and it’s something that has come back on the horizon for me. It would be a great big bawdy romp through a carnival, with lots of sex and naughtiness. It would be very different for me.”

The actor revealed that the production is in the “early stages of development” and added he was looking to take a theatre role when the ninth series of Spooks finishes recording in July.

However, he ruled out an imminent return to musical theatre, where he started before his professional training at LAMDA. He said: “Things do come up occasionally, but I have not quite explored enough of classical theatre. And there are so many things I would like to do before I go back to it [musical theatre].”