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Australian theatre auteur Simon Stone is still riding high on his current smash hit for the Bridge Theatre, his own stage adaptation of Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea, with a superstar cast headed by Alicia Vikander and Andrew Lincoln. He’s clearly having a jolly good time as the Bridge – which admittedly has a slightly freewheeling approach towards programming – has just announced that he’s coming back next year, with another freewheeling adaptation of a classic play and another big name Hollywood celebrity as its lead.
The play is Ivanov, which is one of Chekhov’s lesser known works – ie it’s not one of the ‘big four’ that are staged almost constantly – but it does get a major revival every now and again (the National Theatre did it in 2016).
And in the title role of the mournful Ivanov – a man whose life has hit a rut, and is now looking mournfully back at past glories – is none other than Chris Pine, the US actor best known for his role as Captain Kirk in the rebooted Star Trek films, plus sundry other roles including the Wonder Woman films. He’s no stranger to the stage, having actually acted on stage for 15 years before his screen career took off.
Stone is a singular writer-director and we undoubtedly know roughly what to expect from his update: it’s going to be modern dress, with modern language, and probably have a lot of swearing in it. But it’ll probably be pretty damn moving too.
Further casting is TBA, but Stone is bringing back the creative team behind The Lady from the Sea, notably designer Lizzie Clachlan. Keen theatre nerds will note that with the Bridge’s next show Into the Woods ending in April and Ivanov beginning in July, there’s likely to be another show slotted in between at some point.
Ivanov is at the Bridge Theatre Jul 4-Sep 19 2026. Tickets will go on sale Oct 24.
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