Oscar-winning Hollywood star Gary Oldman is swapping the bright lights of Tinsel Town for Yorkshire this spring as he takes to the stage in a one-man show at York Theatre Royal.

Pictures by York Theatre Royal/Gisele Schmidt

With a career spanning nearly 50 years, few British actors can boast a CV as glittering as that of the brilliant Gary Oldman and Yorkshire theatre goers are in for a treat this spring with the announcement that he’s set to return to the stage where it all began for him.

The Oscar-winning actor will star in Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape at York Theatre Royal in April – 46 years since he first appeared on that very same stage and launched a career that has seen him crowned Academy Award, BAFTA, SAG, BIFA and Golden Globe winner.

Oldman started out at the venue in 1979 in plays like Privates on Parade and She Stoops to Conquer – as well as playing the cat in the pantomime Dick Whittington that Christmas.

Talking about his return Oldman said:  “My professional public acting debut was on the stage at the York Theatre Royal and for me, it is the completion of a circle, as it is where it all began.”

“In a very real sense, for me, it is like coming home and the combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier.”

After starting out in York, London-born Oldman went on to act at the Royal Court Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company before swapping the theatre for film with break-out roles in Sid and Nancy, JFK and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

He went on to play Sirius Black in the Harry Potter films, won the Oscar for best actor in 2018 for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, and is currently starring in Apple TV’s smash hit drama
Slow Horses as the brilliant Jackson Lamb.

His acclaimed and memorable screen appearances include Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Academy Award and BAFTA nominations), Mank (Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations), Oppenheimer, The Firm, Prick Up Your Ear, Romeo Is Bleeding, True Romance, Leon/The Professional, The Fifth Element, Immortal Beloved, and Dawn of the Planet Of The Apes, to name but a few.

The 66-year-old said he had been considering going back to the stage for a long time and it was on a trip to the historic city last year when the seeds were sown for this latest project.

“I have never been far from the theatre and, in fact, have been discussing plays and my return to the theatre for nearly 30 years,” Oldman said.

He took his family to visit York theatre last March, which was when he met the venue’s current chief executive Paul Crewes.

Crewes told BBC Radio York: “When Gary visited us at the beginning of last year it was fascinating hearing him recount stories of his time as a young man in his first professional role on the York Theatre Royal stage and it was a lovely afternoon, just reminiscing,”

“In that context when we started to explore ideas, we realised Krapp’s Last Tape was the perfect project and I’m delighted that audiences will have this unique opportunity to see Gary Oldman return to our stage in this brand new production.

“We stayed in touch and started talking about potential projects and although he’s been in film for many, many years, he’s a theatre person at heart and has been thinking about returning to the stage for some time.

“There was something about coming back to York, I think, that maybe triggered his interest again, and we started talking about what projects might be of interest.

Oldman in Slow Horses

“Krapp’s Last Tape was suggested by him, and it seemed the perfect project because, fundamentally it’s about a man looking back over the last 30-odd years, and we’d spent the day with Gary in a sense doing something similar.”

The one-act play is about an old man listening to his younger self via taped recordings. Each year, on his birthday, Krapp records a new tape reflecting on the year gone by and on his 69th birthday, Krapp, now a lonely man, is ready with a bottle of wine, a banana and his tape recorder. Listening back to a recording he made as a young man, Krapp must face the hopes of his past self.

For a man who first trod the boards of York nearly 50 years ago, it will be a fitting and heart-warming return.

Krapp’s Last Tape will run from 14th April to 17th May 2025 and tickets are available priced £25 from York Theatre Royal on 01904 623568 or via boxoffice@yorktheatreroyal.co.uk