Oscar winner to make UK theatre debut in Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea

Actress Alicia Vikander is set to make her UK theatre debut in a new production of Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea, producers have confirmed.

It will mark the Oscar winner’s first stage role of any kind for 17 years, following a successful run of film and TV performances.

The production will play at London’s Bridge Theatre for eight weeks from 10 September, organisers announced on Wednesday.

Vikander told BBC News she was “thrilled” to be returning to theatre, but added it was a “daunting thing to do… it’s my first time on stage as an adult”.

The play has been adapted and directed by Simon Stone, and will also star The Walking Dead’s Andrew Lincoln.

Speaking from her home in north London, Vikander recalled the influence the theatre had on her when she was younger.

“I grew up being at the theatre a lot, my mother [Maria Fahl] was a stage actress, and I think even when I was dreaming of becoming an actress myself, being on stage was the journey that I kind of visualised,” she recalled.

“Back in Sweden, where I’m from, if you’re an actor then really what you are is on stage. And you’re lucky to maybe have a TV show or film every couple of years, because that’s how small the industry is in Sweden.

“So I think that’s what I always saw in front of me. And then, life happened, and throughout the years [theatre] has always been something I’ve been waiting for and thinking ‘it will happen’.”

Vikander has certainly been busy in the meantime.

The 36-year-old has starred in Tomb Raider, Ex Machina and Testament of Youth, and won a best supporting actress Oscar for her performance opposite Eddie Redmayne in 2015’s The Danish Girl.

Vikander will play lead character Ellida, the sea-loving daughter of a lighthouse-keeper.

Ellida is married to a Norwegian doctor, but when a sailor she used to be engaged to suddenly returns, she is forced to choose between her current and former lover.

The play marks the introduction of the character Hilde Wangel, one of the doctor’s daughters from a previous marriage.

Hilde goes on to appear in one of Ibsen’s later plays, The Master Builder, a new adaptation of which is coincidentally also currently in the West End, starring Ewan McGregor.

An adaptation of another Ibsen play, Enemy of the People, opened in London last year starring Doctor Who actor Matt Smith.

Director Stone has previously helmed films such as The Dig and The Daughter, while his extensive theatre credits include productions of Yerma, Phaedra, Medea and Angels in America.

“He once again is going to take a classic and reinvent it and make it be something that is relatable to our modern audience today,” Vikander said.

“And when I was told he was doing Ibsen and The Lady from the Sea, I guess that going back to my Scandinavian and Swedish heritage, it kind of felt like a perfect match.”

Vikander said she felt the reason many of the classics are still being performed in the West End is they tackle many of the same subjects society still grapples with today.

“I have discussions with my friends, I just passed 35, I’m getting close to my 40s soon and I have my kids, but I still feel extremely young. Really young. Sometimes I’m like, ‘I’m 25 still!’

“But then I also realise I’m entering this very new chapter which is really exciting, but I think if you are in a place where you feel like you haven’t fulfilled certain dreams or tried things, you’re still wondering where these choices or action would have led you, then I think it’s extremely human thing.

“Women throughout history have been held back, maybe because they didn’t have the same opportunities, or they financially couldn’t do some things, or ended up in situations where it was harder to break away from the role of being a mother.

“So therefore when I read it, I feel like I totally understand the turmoil this woman goes through, and I don’t think humans have changed that much from a core, emotional point of view. And I think that’s why we’re interested in these stories.”

She aded: “It’s incredible that the big universal questions are something we’re still battling in the same way.”

Vikander said she was “super excited and wonderfully nervous” to begin the workshopping process with Stone in the coming weeks, out of which he will begin to produce the final script.

As the show is still being developed, it has not yet been confirmed what the setting will be for this production.

Another UK adaptation of The Lady from the Sea performed in 2017 at the Donmar Theatre moved the story to the Caribbean in the 1950s.

The new adaptation is billed as her UK stage debut, but Vikander notes it’s actually her first theatre of any kind since she was 19.

“I did theatre for my teens for a lot of years, like a child actor, and then the last thing I did was when I was a dancer for the Stockholm Opera House,” she explained.

“I grew up watching my mother doing theatre, and I ‘d always watch from afar, and I can’t wait to try and do it myself.

“It’s a daunting thing to do, obviously, it’s my first time on stage as an adult, and it’s on the London stage, and obviously I want to make sure people get their ticket money’s worth! But I’m really excited.”