The Crown’s Matt Smith and Claire Foy to return to stage for socially distanced performance of Lungs

Pair first appeared in Duncan Macmillan’s ‘Lungs’ in 2019

Matt Smith and Claire Foy are set to perform a socially distanced version of Duncan Macmillan’s play Lungs to raise funds for London’s Old Vic theatre.

The actors, who starred in the first two seasons of Netflix’s The Crown as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, will return to the Old Vic less than a year after first performing in their sellout run of Macmillan’s play.

Following rehearsals taking place over webcam, Smith and Foy will perform the show on the venue’s stage while adhering to social distancing guidelines across a number of dates in June, with audience members available to buy tickets to virtually watch from home.

Tickets will range from £10 to £65 but will all offer the same view of the stage, with the venue asking viewers to see the price as a donation to keep the Old Vic going during and after the coronavirus crisis.

Each show will be followed by a socially distanced play reading taking place in theatre’s empty auditorium, with the theatre describing the performance, which is part of the Old Vic: In Camera festival as “both an exciting creative experiment and also crucial in igniting the box office now that all our usual channels of revenue have been entirely wiped out”.

Lungs follows a couple called M and W, who reflect on the moral implications of having children in the age of political chaos and looming climate change disaster.