Hustle star Adrian Lester has said he hopes to return to the stage — to play Sweeney Todd.
The Olivier award-winning actor first fell in love with the story of the demon barber of Fleet Street when he played Todd’s accomplice, Anthony Hope, in a 1993 production at the National Theatre.
He said: “At the moment I would love to do Sweeney Todd. I think it’s been done quite recently, so I’ll have to wait for a few years, but that’s one that sometime in the future I want to play.
“I’ve been in it twice, once as chorus and once as Anthony Hope. When I was in it as Anthony Hope, working with Declan [Donnellan, the director], I just loved it. I thought it was fantastic. The songs are great, the passion is great.”
Asked if he would take barber shop lessons to prepare, Lester, 50, said: “I think you do have to do that. You have to have the old-school cut-throat razor barber-shop skills.
“Alun Armstrong did it when I was playing Anthony Hope and he learned how to use the razor and make it look like you were very, very skilled with it.”
