Michael Sheen Stars in HAMLET at Young Vic in 2011

Whatsonstage.com is reporting that Michael Sheen will be the latest actor to take on a high profile performance of Hamlet in the Young Vic's production this year. The production will premiere in the winter of 2011, however, exact dates have yet to be announced.

Former Royal Court artistic Director Ian Rickson will direct the production, which will be his first attempt at Shakespeare.  Sheen was last seen in a Shakespeare play in 1997 when he portrayed Henry V for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Sheen's last stage role was that of David Frost in the 2006 Donmar Warehouse's production of Frost/Nixon.  He would reprise his role on screen opposite Frank Langella.

Writes Whatsonstage.com of the genesis of the production: "Sheen approached Rickson about directing Hamlet after seeing his award-winning world premiere production of Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem...Rickson told the Guardian that Sheen is 'fantastically intelligent, but at the same time very alive emotionally. He has a certain maleness, combined with a poeticism, on stage. And he is suitably fearless in terms of going into the darkness in this play.'

David Lan, current Artistic Director of the Young Vic, for one, is not worried about Sheen's Hamlet being overshadowed by Jude Law's recent and critically hailed production last year.  He tells the U.K. Guardian: "This is one of the rare times you can say it and it's true: the play is inexhaustible. There are so many different strains of thought in that play. And Michael can act anything. He is an acting animal."

In addition to his portrayal of David Frost on stage and screen, Sheen has become best known for his portrayals of other well-known public figures, as well: Tony Blair in The Deal, The Queen, and The Special Relationship, and football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United. He additional stars in the Twilight film franchise. Additional stage roles in the West End, on Broadway and in the U.K. include Caligula, Look Back in Anger, Amadeus, Peer Gynt, The Homecoming and The Dresser.

For more information on the Young Vic, visit www.youngvic.org.