Emperor and Galilean
Sweeping across Greece and the Middle East from AD351, 'Emperor and Galilean' is the closest Ibsen has to a lost masterpiece - and Jonathan Kent's production for the Travelex £12 Season looks set to do jusctice to the epic scale with a cast of 50 and a production that promises 'a cathedral of sound and ritual'
Associate Director of the National Theatre and Headlong collaborator Ben Power has come up with a new version of Ibsen's play about the life of Julian the Apostate, the Roman philosopher-emperor who tried to restore 'old' values to an empire becoming engulfed by bureaucracy and Christianity.
Rising Irish actor Andrew Scott, who appeared in the Old Vic production of Noël Coward's 'Design for Living', and is overdue some more critical attention following his brilliantly original portrayal of the arch-villain Moriarty in the TV series 'Sherlock', plays Julius. Scotsman Ian McDiarmid, most recently seen in Headlong's 'Six Characters in Search of an Author' and 'The Prince of Homburg' at the Donmar Warehouse, will play his tutor Maximus.
Ibsen more than once referred to 'Emperor and Galilean' his major work - it remains to be seen whether Kent and Power can together demonstrate why.