James McAvoy to Star in THE RULING CLASS at Trafalgar This Winter

The Daily Mail writes that X-MEN star James McAvoy has lined up his next stage project -- Peter Barnes's THE RULING CLASS, which will be directed by Jamie Lloyd in January as part of Trafalgar Transformed's second season. Performances begin January 16, 2015; the play runs through April 11.

McAvoy will play "an English Earl who believes he's the Lord... among other things." McAvoy and Lloyd both dubbed the work "one of the riskiest pieces of writing they had read."

"There's something I like about making something where people come out shaking their heads, in either a positive or a negative way. Something dangerous," McAvoy told the Mail. "It's about people at the top, thinking they're God, and thinking that their power isn't in any way limited...It's metaphysical, social and political satire -- in a short, a shock-fest."

THE RULING CLASS, as you can gauge from its title, was a critique directed at the upper classes, the government and the church, which makes it perfect for the political season ahead. "Its big target is the people running our country," Lloyd said, "so it's a most appropriate time to revive it."

McAvoy starred in Traf Transformed's first production, MACBETH, last year.

Photo Credit: Johan Persson