Not returning to Homeland: David Harewood to play Oberon in New York

Alice Jones' Arts Diary

He has left Homeland but David Harewood is not quitting America just yet. The British actor, who played CIA chief David Estes in two series of the US television series, will next appear as Oberon on the New York stage.

“Actually I turned down a role in a movie so I could do the theatre gig. I thought I’d get more out of doing some Shakespeare,” he said on Twitter. Midsummer, a “visceral” reworking of the woodland romance, will open off-Broadway in the Theatre for a New Audience’s new Brooklyn home in October.

Julie Taymor will direct, her first show since she left the disastrous Spider-Man musical in 2011. Undaunted by the technical hitches and injured actors that show racked up, Taymor is already planning some spectacular stunts for her return to the stage.

“Julie rang me the other day … There may be some ‘light flying’ involved,” added Harewood. “I am so  damn excited.” Break  a leg, David.

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