‘Foundation’ Star Synnove Karlsen to Make New York Stage Debut in Off-Broadway ‘Pygmalion’ (EXCLUSIVE)
“Foundation” and “Miss Austen” star Synnove Karlsen will make her New York theatrical debut as Eliza Doolittle in Gingold Theatrical Group’s production of George Bernard Shaw‘s “Pygmalion.”
Mark Evans (“Waitress,” “The Play That Goes Wrong”) will star opposite Karlsen as Professor Henry Higgins in Shaw’s celebrated work, which inspired the musical “My Fair Lady.” Set in pre-World War I London, the comedy lampoons the rigid British class system and explores women’s independence as a celebrated professor of phonetics wagers that he can pass a bedraggled Cockney flower girl off as a duchess by teaching her the tools of education.
“It’s a real joy to be joining ‘Pygmalion’ off-Broadway and to be playing Eliza Doolittle,” Karlsen tells Variety. “Eliza is a fiercely intelligent woman who throws herself wholeheartedly at the chance to build a better life for herself. What I love most about Eliza is her fire, her wit and her refusal to stay in the box society has put her in. I’m very excited to work with this wonderful team of actors and to be working in New York for the first time.”
The New York production follows Karlsen’s U.K. stage debut earlier this year in Laura Lomas’ “The House Party,” a reimagining of August Strindberg’s “Miss Julie” directed by Headlong’s artistic director Holly Race Roughan.
Karlsen starred in Season 3 of Apple TV Plus’ acclaimed sci-fi epic “Foundation” as new series regular Bayta Mallow, joining returning stars Lee Pace and Jared Harris. Based on Isaac Asimov’s revered trilogy, the series is consistently ranked in Apple TV Plus’ global top 10.
Earlier this year, she starred as Cassandra Austen in “Miss Austen” for BBC and Masterpiece, an adaptation of Gill Hornby’s best-selling novel written by BAFTA winner Andrea Gibb (“Elizabeth Is Missing,” “Mayflies”). Keeley Hawes played Cassandra in her later years.
Karlsen’s previous credits include Netflix’s “Bodies” alongside Stephen Graham and Shira Haas, and the key role of Jocasta in Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho,” the psychological horror starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Thomasin McKenzie and Matt Smith. She is also known for her leading television role in the BBC psychological thriller “Clique” and her role as Clarice Orsini in Netflix’s “Medici: The Magnificent.”
Adapted and directed by David Staller, “Pygmalion” will have a five-week limited engagement at Theatre Row’s Theater 5. Previews begin Oct. 22, with opening night set for Nov. 2 and the final performance on Nov. 22.
