At the age of 75, Vanessa Redgrave might have thought she'd missed her chance to play Beatrice. However, in another example of offbeat casting, she will reunite with James Earl Jones, 81, for a production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Old Vic next year, to be directed by Mark Rylance.
Shakespeare's sparring sweethearts are usually played by actors in middle age or younger. Five years ago, Simon Russell Beale and Zoe Wanamaker took the roles at the National theatre.
It means that Redgrave and Earl Jones will reunite on the London stage for the second time in as many years, having joined forces to transfer a pared-down stage version of Driving Miss Daisy into the West End after an initial Broadway run.
Both have serious Shakespearean credentials, with Redgrave counting As You Like It's Rosalind among her credits and Earl Jones having famously played King Lear at the New York Shakespeare festival in 1973.
A regular theatrical gripe that female actors get a raw deal when they hit a certain age has been challenged in recent years. Siân Phillips, 79, recently played Juliet, written as 14, at the Old Vic in Ben Power's Romeo and Juliet adaptation A Tender Thing, while the 62-year-old Harriet Walter is currently starring as Brutus in the Donmar Warehouse's all-female Julius Caesar.
The Old Vic's next season will open in March with a new production of The Winslow Boy directed by Lindsay Posner, for which no casting has been announced as yet, following the incumbent production, Kiss Me Kate.
Tennessee Williams's Sweet Bird of Youth will follow in June, with Kim Cattrall starring as the fading Hollywood legend Alexandra Del Lago. War Horse co-director Marianne Elliott will helm the production.
Artistic director Kevin Spacey said the new season fits with the Old Vic's reputation as "first and foremost an actors' theatre, a home for great talent and memorable performances". Still, it is striking that Spacey himself will not be joining them: his last performance on the Old Vic stage was his virtuoso turn as Richard III in summer 2011.
He added: "I couldn't be more proud that these greats of the theatre have chosen the Old Vic as their home in 2013 and [am] delighted to bring more great productions to our audiences."
