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James Corden. Two words that can strike fear into even the stoutest of hearts. But while the chronically overexposed UK sitcom star and US chatshow host may not be the hippest gunslinger in town, there’s little denying that his two previous stage outings were stone-cold classics: he was in the original cast of Alan Bennett’s epochal ‘The History Boys’, and then returned to the National Theatre a few years later to head up the riotous global comedy smash ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’.
Subsequently, his career took off in the US and he essentially became too famous as a talk show host to find time for theatre. But he’s re-engaged with screen acting in recent years, and with his eight-year-run on ‘The Late, Late Show’ now wrapped up it’s not a surprise at all to find him on stage again.
‘The Constituent’ is a new drama by veteran writer Joe Penhall, best known for his classic play ‘Blue/Orange’ and the Netflix series ‘Mindhunter’. Co-starring the wonderous Anna Maxwell Martin (‘Motherland’ etc), the Matthew Warchus-directed play is an examination of British disillusionment with politicians.
It will star Maxwell Martin as a hard-working backbench MP who is sorely tested by the demands of a constituent in a state of crisis.
Corden is best known as a comic actor and he’ll presumably have a chance to flex those muscles, though at the same time, the show description actually sounds pretty serious – we’ll find out more in June when ‘The Constituent’ opens.
‘The Constituent’ is at the Old Vic, Jun 13-Aug 10. Tickets go on sale at 8am March 19.