Poldark star Aidan Turner to make West End debut in The Lieutenant of Inishmore

Aidan Turner will make his West End debut in a revival of Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore next year.

The Poldark star will play Mad Padraic, a terrorist deemed too violent to be a member of the IRA, in McDonagh’s rarely revived 2001 play.

It is one of two new shows announced today by the Michael Grandage Company, both to be directed by Grandage and staged at the Noel Coward Theatre.

The other is a revival of John Logan’s Red, based on the 2009 original Donmar Warehouse production. Alfred Molina reprises his role as the acclaimed painter Mark Rothko, with Alfred Enoch in the role originally played by Eddie Redmayne.

Grandage featured work by both writers in his previous West End season in 2013. Daniel Radcliffe starred in a revival of McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan and Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw appeared in a production of John Logan’s Peter and Alice.

Red will run from May 4 to July 28 and The Lieutenant of Inishmore will run from June 23 to September 8. Tickets go on sale at 10am today.