David Tennant will return to the West End to star in a play about how good people could be seduced into joining Nazism.
The Broadchurch and Good Omens actor will play the lead in a revival of CP Taylor’s Good, described as a “warning for our times”.
Set in Germany ahead of the Second World War, Tennant will play John Halder, a decent, intelligent, music-loving German professor, “who finds himself swept along in a movement that crescendos towards an unthinkable finale”.
The play, originally published in 1982, has been re-imagined by theatre director Dominic Cooke, who said that Taylor’s “modern classic about the perils of moral compromise is an apposite fable for our troubled times”.
Tennant, whose previous appearances in the West End include roles in Much Ado About Nothing and Don Juan in Soho, will be joined in the production by Judy actress Fenella Woolgar and Coriolanus actor Elliot Levey.
Good will run at the Playhouse Theatre from Tuesday October 6 until Saturday December 19.
Tennant said: “Dominic is one of the UK’s all-time great theatre directors.
“I am really inspired and delighted to finally get a chance to work with him, and especially on a wonderful play like CP Taylor’s Good – a fantastic bit of writing that is more pertinent and resonant now than it has ever been.”
It will be the first production from Cooke’s new company Fictionhouse, which he launched alongside his former Royal Court Theatre colleague Kate Horton.
Cooke, who was the Royal Court’s artistic director from 2007 until 2013, said Good “feels like an exciting first project for Fictionhouse”.
“Ever since we left the Royal Court, the incredible Kate Horton and I have been plotting about how we could find a way to work together again. Fictionhouse has been a long time coming and I couldn’t be happier to be developing the successful partnership Kate and I built together at Sloane Square.”
He added: “I have known David Tennant since he was a student and have wanted to work with him ever since. He is one of our finest actors and has the ideal combination of wit, warmth and charisma to bring John Halder vividly to life.
“I can’t wait to start work with him and the amazing Elliot Levey and Fenella Woolgar on this dazzling play.”
Horton, who was executive director at the Royal Court alongside Cooke, added: “Dominic, David, Fenella, Elliot and the entire Good creative team are the best people I could imagine coming together to realise CP Taylor’s extraordinary, vital play.”