Keira Knightley is set to make her West End return after 15 years in a stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning German film The Lives of Others. The play, adapted and directed by Robert Icke, will open at the Adelphi Theatre in London this autumn.
Knightley will play an actor in East Germany in 1984 who, along with her novelist partner portrayed by Bridgerton's Luke Thompson, is placed under state surveillance. Stephen Dillane will play the Stasi captain spying on them. The production features music by Max Richter and design by Hildegard Bechtler.
Producer Sonia Friedman described the adaptation as an “unexpected” and “thrilling” take on Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s 2006 film. She noted that the play explores a time “where nothing is private, every word carries consequence, and the state holds power not just over lives, but over thought, speech and imagination itself”.
The Lives of Others will run at the Adelphi Theatre from 14 October to 9 January. The venue previously housed Back to the Future: The Musical, which closed earlier this month.
