Spacey will play the title role, with Trevor Nunn directing. No other casting or creative team details are available yet, but the production will open some time in fall 2005. It will be Spacey’s first Shakespeare role in the U.K. He has previously played the Duke of Buckingham in Al Pacino’s “Looking for Richard” film (which featured substantial excerpts from Richard III). His first-ever acting role was as the messenger in one of the Henry VI plays at the 1981 New York Shakespeare Festival.

Reviews have been mixed for the first Old Vic season to date. However, Spacey’s company acting debut in National Anthems has, according to the BBC, taken £1 million in advance bookings. And most commentators expect the next show, The Philadelphia Story, which also stars Spacey, to set the tills ringing.

Trevor Nunn’s return to the Old Vic will be his first since he directed Hamlet immediately prior to the hand-over to Spacey’s regime. His most recent London work has included Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Woman In White and Acorn Antiques — The Musical.