David Mitchell said recreating his role as William Shakespeare on stage was the “perfect introduction” to the West End.
The star, who has played the Bard in Ben Elton’s TV sitcom Upstart Crow for three series, said: “I’ve been nervous of doing the West End but doing a play written by Ben, who I’ve worked with before, playing a character I’ve played before, is the perfect introduction for me.”
Mitchell plays Shakespeare as a shambling middle-aged writer desperate for a hit in the stage adaptation. Elton said the idea to bring the show to the stage arrived “symbiotically” while talking to Mitchell as they made the sitcom.
The comic, whose career includes writing the Queen musical We Will Rock You and Blackadder, said his Shakespearean tale was “begging” to be put on stage.
He said: “If ever I was going to put one of my sitcoms on the stage it would have to be Upstart Crow and the moment David expressed an interest in making his West End debut in a play written by me then frankly the hot coals were laid out and I crawled across them because the man is a genius.
