Orlando Bloom returns to the West End after more than a decade to star as a cop who moonlights as a killer-for-hire in a new production of multi award-winning Tracy Letts‘ blackly comic 1993 thriller, Killer Joe. The production, directed by Simon Evans, will run at Trafalgar Studios 1 for 13 weeks from 18 May to 18 August 2018, with a press night on 4 June.
The Smith family hatch a plan to murder their estranged matriarch for her insurance money. They hire Joe Cooper, a police detective and part-time contract killer, to do the job. But once he enters their trailer home and comes face to face with their innocent daughter, the plan spirals out of control…
A tense, gut-twisting thriller, Killer Joe asks where the moral line is drawn in the fight for survival. Letts’ 1993 play was also made into a 2011 film starring Matthew McConnaghey in the title role.
Orlando Bloom said:
“I’m always looking for an opportunity to get back on stage, especially in London, the heart of my home. Tracy Lett’s Killer Joe is an incredible, adrenaline-fueled piece of writing, with a dark and gritty character to play. It’s an interesting comment on a disenfranchised view of the American dream. Whilst Joe may appear to be simply a killer, I believe Lett’s intentions for Joe are far more layered. It’s very different from many of the film roles I’m most recognized for.
“After talking it through with director Simon Evans, I know we will create a production that is polarizing, entertaining, dark and funny. The play may be 25 years old this year, but the relationships it portrays, especially between Joe and the innocent girl Dottie, speak so brilliantly to the empowerment we’re seeing around the world in 2018. It’s the perfect time to be bringing this play back to London, and I couldn’t be more excited to be part of it.”
Onscreen, actor and producer Orlando Bloom will next star in Amazon’s newest original series Carnival Row, an eight-episode fantasy noir set in a neo-Victorian city. The series will premiere in 2019 and Orlando is both a producer and star of the show. Bloom is well known for his role as ‘Will Turner’ in the Pirates of the Caribbean films which have all been massive box office hits, grossing a total of $4.6 billion worldwide. The fifth and most recent film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was released in May 2017 and grossed almost $800 million. Additionally, Orlando is well known for his role as ‘Legolas’ in Peter Jackson’s Academy Award winning trilogy The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The five films that Orlando starred in grossed over $4.8 billion.
Bloom’s other film credits include Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down and Kingdom of Heaven, Cameron Crowe’s Elizabethtown and Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy, among many others. On stage, Bloom received critical acclaim for his Broadway debut as ‘Romeo’ in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, directed by David Leveaux. In 2007, he made his debut at London’s West End in a revival of David Storey’s 1969 drama In Celebration produced by Sonia Friedman and directed by Anna Mackmin. Bloom graduated from London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he performed in many stage productions, including Peer Gynt and Twelfth Night. For over a decade, Orlando has been a Global Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and travels around the world to fight for the rights of children and was honoured with the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award in 2015.
Killer Joe is produced by Emily Dobbs Productions and Empire Street Productions.
