Alex Kingston has called for greater diversity in theatre as she told of her joy at being back on the London stage.
The ER and Dr Who actress, 55, will be back in the West End in the play Admissions when it transfers from New York. She stars as Sherri, the head of admissions at a private school fighting to diversify its student intake. But then her son is deferred from his university of choice while his best friend — who “ticks more boxes” — is accepted.
Kingston said: “The theme is universal and I think that, just from what I’ve read in the newspapers recently here regarding ethnicity and higher education, it’s incredibly topical and a British audience will completely get what the characters in this play are dealing with.”
Admissions marks Kingston’s return to the West End after she appeared with Christian Slater in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest at the Garrick and played Lady Milford in Luise Miller at the Donmar Warehouse.
She moved back to the UK from the States two years ago and says she is “loving” working in London again.
Kingston said she hopes the play will bring in a broader audience than usual in the West End: “The majority of theatre audiences are white and so the hope is you will have people of different ethnicities coming in.” She also urged diversity in casting, and said: “Aside from the Young Vic and a few, it’s still a white person’s world.”
Admissions runs at Trafalgar Studios from February 28 until May 25, followed by a UK tour until June 22.
