Cate Blanchett to Return to the London Stage in The Seagull

Two-time Oscar winner and Tony nominee Cate Blanchett will star in a new version of Chekhov’s The Seagull in London. Thomas Ostermeier, who adapted the play with Duncan Macmillan, will direct the production in a limited six-week run at the Barbican Theatre beginning in February 2025.

Blanchett will play the role of the famous actress Arkadina; British actor Tom Burke will star as self-centered writer Trigorin. The pair reunite after recently completing filming on Steven Soderbergh's Black Bag.

Blanchett’s extensive stage credits include performing in A Streetcar Named Desire, Uncle Vanya, The Maids and The Present in New York, the latter her Tony-nominated Broadway debut. Most recently on stage, she performed in When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other at the National Theatre. On screen, her most recent roles include Tár, Don't Look Up and this year's Borderlands.

“I have known and admired Cate for many years,” said Ostermeier in a statement, “and to see her on stage is always a privilege. I am thrilled that we will make our first artistic collaboration with this production of The Seagull at the Barbican, and that London will experience this once in a generation actress in one of the greatest theatrical roles of Arkadina. I’m also very pleased to be forging a new artistic relationship with Tom Burke, who will play the role of Trigorin.”

Blanchett was formerly the co-artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company with her husband Andrew Upton; Kip Williams, their successor in that role, directed the possibly Broadway-bound production of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Ostermeier, whose Hamlet played BAM in 2022, is resident director of the Schaubühne Berlin. Macmillan co-adapted and co-directed, with Robert Icke, 1984 on Broadway in 2017.