Olivier Winner Conleth Hill to Join Frances McDormand in Berkeley Rep's MACBETH

Berkeley Repertory Theatre today announced that Olivier Award-winning actor Conleth Hill, accomplished on both stage and screen, will play the title role opposite Frances McDormand in a new production of Macbeth directed by Daniel Sullivan, opening in February 2016.

Conleth Hill is an acclaimed actor on stage, film, television, and radio, as well as a writer and director. His film credits include Perrier's Bounty, Intermission, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Woody Allen's Whatever Works, The Shore (Oscar, Best Live Action Short), Shooting for Socrates, The Good Word, A Patch of Fog, The Truth Commissioner, and Two Down. His television credits include Varys in HBO's award-winning Game of Thrones, Suits, Goodbye Mr. Chips, That Day We Sang, Inside Number Nine, Foyle's War, Blue Heaven, The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle, and Arthur and George. His theatre credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Whistle in the Dark, Conversations on a Homecoming, Waiting for Godot, The Home Place, and Uncle Vanya, all at Lyric Theatre Belfast. He also appeared at the National Theatre in Democracy, Philistines (Olivier Award nomination), The Seafarer (also Broadway, Tony Award nomination, Drama Desk Award), All's Well That Ends Well, The White Guard, and The Cherry Orchard. His West End credits include Mel Brooks' The Producers (Olivier Award), Shoot the Crow, and Quartermaine's Terms, and his West End and Broadway performance in Stones in His Pockets earned him Irish Times, Olivier, Dora, Drama Desk, Theatre League, Outer Critics Circle, and Whatsonstage.com awards, as well as Theatrical Management Association and Tony Award nominations. Hill has also written for television and theatre, and has directed three productions of David Ireland's comedy Can't Forget About You.

"We're simply thrilled to have artists of such depth and talent converge to make their Berkeley Rep debuts in this production," says Tony Taccone, Berkeley Rep's Michael Leibert Artistic Director. "We only present Shakespeare very selectively. A Macbeth with Conleth and Frances, and directed by Dan, will truly provide an abundance of theatrical riches to Berkeley Rep's audiences."

Individual tickets for Macbeth will go on sale Wednesday, December 2. Tickets for Macbeth are currently available to Berkeley Rep's 2015-16 season subscribers. Subscription packages are available through November 30. Information and ordering at berkeleyrep.org or (510) 647-2949.

On Broadway, Frances McDormand received the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her performance in David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People directed by Daniel Sullivan. Other stage appearances include The Country Girl directed by Mike Nichols on Broadway, Caryl Churchill's Far Away directed by Stephen Daldry at New York Theatre Workshop, her Tony-nominated performance as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Sisters Rosensweig directed by Daniel Sullivan at Lincoln Center Theater, The Swan at the Public Theater, A Streetcar Named Desire (this time as Blanche) at the Gate Theatre in Dublin, and Dare Clubb's Oedipus at the Blue Light Theater Company. With the Wooster Group, she performed in To You, The Birdie!, North Atlantic, and Early Shaker Spirituals. Films include The Good Dinosaur, Moonrise Kingdom, Promised Land, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Friends with Money, North Country, Laurel Canyon, Something's Gotta Give, Almost Famous, Wonder Boys, Madeline, Primal Fear, Short Cuts, Lone Star, Beyond Rangoon, Paradise Road, Mississippi Burning, Hidden Agenda, Darkman, and in collaboration with Joel and Ethan Coen, Burn After Reading, The Man Who Wasn't There, Fargo (for which she received an Academy Award), Raising Arizona, Blood Simple, and the upcoming Hail Caesar!. With her company Hear/Say, McDormand produced Every Secret Thing and Olive Kitteridge (which received eight Emmy Awards including Outstanding Limited Series and Leading Actress) and is developing a screen adaptation inspired by Michael Pollan's book Omnivore's Dilemma.

Daniel Sullivan won the 2001 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for Proof, and he was most recently nominated for another Tony in 2011 for The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino. Daniel most recently directed The Country House, The Snow Geese, Orphans, and Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway. For the Public Theater, he directed A Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, All's Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Stuff Happens, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

In four decades, four million people have enjoyed more than 300 shows at Berkeley Rep. These shows have gone on to win five Tony Awards, seven Obie Awards, nine Drama Desk Awards, one Grammy Award, and many other honors. Its bustling facilities - which include the 400-seat Thrust Stage, the 600-seat Roda Theatre, the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, the Osher Studio, and a spacious new campus in West Berkeley - are helping revitalize an illustrious city. A not-for-profit organization, the Theatre welcomes an annual audience of 200,000, serves 23,000 students, and hosts dozens of community groups every year, thanks to 1,000 volunteers and more than 330 artists, artisans, and administrators. The Roda Theatre and the Thrust Stage are both located on Addison Street in downtown Berkeley, near bus lines, bike routes, and parking lots - and only half a block from BART. For more information, call (510) 647-2949 or visit berkeleyrep.org.