Cate Blanchett is set to make a return to the London stage in her first ever National Theatre production.

The 49 year old will appear in a play written by Martin Crimp, titled ‘When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other: Twelve Variations on Samuel Richardson's Pamela’, which will open at the National Theatre in January 2019. Tickets will go on sale in the autumn.

The National Theatre said the new play, inspired by Samuel Richardson’s 1740 novel ‘Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded’, “breaks through the surface of contemporary debate to explore the messy, often violent nature of desire, and the fluid, complicated roles that men and women play.”

Cate BlanchettCate Blanchett is to star in her first National Theatre production in 2019

It will be directed by Katie Mitchell, and sees Australian two-time Oscar winning actress Blanchett star alongside Stephen Dillane. The press release says that the plot involves five characters acting out “a dangerous game of sexual domination and resistance.”

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Mitchell told the Evening Standard: “It's great to be working with Martin again on this powerful new text and to continue my special collaboration with Stephen Dillane. At the same time I'm delighted to welcome Cate Blanchett to the National, and look forward to developing a new working relationship with this extraordinary actor.”

Blanchett was expected to have taken to the London stage earlier this year, in a new adaptation of the classic 1950 film All About Eve, but was reported to have withdrawn due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict.

She last appeared on a London theatrical production in 2012, when she starred as Lotte in ‘Big and Small’ at the Barbican. She has previously won Academy Awards for her parts in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator and Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.

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