Jude Law Will Headline Obsession for 2016 Tony Nominee Ivo Van Hove at London's Barbican

We’re a keeping a close eye on this production…with this talent attached, who knows what life it could have after London! Two-time Tony nominee Jude Law is set to lead a stage adaptation of Luchino Visconti’s film Obsession at the Barbican. Helmed by Ivo Van Hove, a 2016 Tony nominee for directing A View From the Bridge and who is currently represented on Broadway by The Crucible, the show will begin performances on April 19, 2017. Obsession is scheduled to officially open on April 25 and play a limited engagement through May 20.

“I’d heard great things about Ivo van Hove and when I saw A View from the Bridge at the Young Vic and then Antigone at the Barbican I knew he was someone I really wanted to have the opportunity to work with,” said Law in a statement. The actor received Tony nods for his work in Hamlet and Indiscretions. On screen Law garnered Oscar nominations for The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain; other film credits include Gattaca, Enemy at the Gates, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Road to Perdition, Alfie, Closer, The Holiday, Contagion, Hugo, Anna Karenina, Side Effects, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Dr. Watson in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes series.

Drifter Gino (Law), powerful and graceful as a puma, encounters Giuseppe and his much younger, trapped wife Giovanna at their roadside restaurant and petrol station. He and Giovanna are so irresistibly attracted to one another they begin an affair while plotting to murder her husband. But the crime does not unite them in this chilling story where passion can lead only to destruction.

Visconti’s first feature film, 1943’s Obsession, is based on James M Cain’s novel The Postman Always Rings Twice and gave rise to Italian neorealism, a cinematic movement highlighting the struggles of ordinary people in a time of upheaval.

Following Kings of War, Obsession is part of the Van Hove’s residency at the Barbican; additional productions set for the lineup include Roman Tragedies and After the Rehearsal/Persona.