Romeo star Douglas Booth takes on 24-hour challenge for stage debut

 
1 November 2013

Rising star Douglas Booth is to make his professional stage debut as part of the line-up for the Old Vic’s nerve-racking 24 Hour Plays event.

Hot on the heels of filming the movie adaptation of the Royal Court hit Posh, he is preparing to do a play “where they’re supposed to be done” — in a theatre.

Booth, 21, will join Catherine Tate, Misfits star Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Miranda’s Tom Ellis, among others,  for the 10th annual Old Vic fundraiser, in which teams of writers, directors and actors create and perform a string of short plays in a single day.

London-born Booth, who came to fame in BBC TV’s Great Expectations, said he had always wanted to be on stage since his early training with the National Youth Theatre.

But since his career began to take off, when he was just 16, he said he had scarcely had a chance to look back.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for so long,” he said.

“I fell in love with acting on stage, it’s really important to me. But the longer you leave it, it almost becomes a thing. This is the perfect way to go back to it — jumping in at the deep end.”

Friends such as Freddie Fox — who took part in the event in 2011 — have warned him how tough the challenge is, saying: “You’ve let yourself in for an explosive 24 hours.”

But Booth, who more recently starred in Julian Fellowes’s film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet,  said he thought it would be “ a huge amount of fun”. Tickets for the event, on November 24, cost from £75 to £500.

The compere will be Rob Brydon.  He said: “Having acted in it myself and knowing the abject fear that is like no other, there’s nothing like the lovely warm feeling you get hosting it.

“For the audience that’s the thrilling part — seeing these actors you know have only had 24 hours to work on it.”

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