Best known for playing Orla McCool in the award-winning Channel 4 comedy Derry Girls, Louisa Harland is one of the hottest property in stage and screen at the minute.
Next week sees her star alongside Hollywood A-listers Woody Harrelson and Andy Serkis in a play written by Belfast playwright David Ireland.
Ulster American will see Dublin-born Harland play Northern Irish playwright Ruth Davenport, opposite Serkis as English director Leigh Carver, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri star Harrelson playing Oscar-winning actor Jay Conway.
The trio of characters are set for tension and contention in the savagely funny play about Northern Ireland which features decapitated priests and the ghost of hunger striker Bobby Sands.
The on-going Holywood actors strike afforded Harrelson the time to take to the London stage for the first time in 18 years.
Read more:
- Belfast playwright David Ireland on courting controversy with Ulster American
- The Lovers: Roisin Gallagher on new Belfast-set Sky series
Speaking to The Guardian this week Harrelson, whose first became known for his role as bartender Woody in the classic sitcom Cheers, described the Irish actress as "frickin phenomenal".
Ulster American, which runs at London’s Riverside Studios from December 4 to January 28 is directed by Jeremy Herrin.
"I’ve always admired David Ireland’s fearlessness and the way he manages to skewer pretension in its many guises. It’s an honour to bring the legend that is Woody Harrelson to London; to welcome Andy Serkis back to the stage after so much success in the movies; and to enjoy the brilliant Louisa Harland going toe-to-toe with them both. I can’t wait to see our audience’s reaction to this explosive show," he said.
Read more:
- Louisa Harland and Jack Rowan on mixing fun and gore in Boys From County Hell
Following her run in Ulster America, Harland will once again team up with Herrin in her next stage role, as Cathleen, in the London revival of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
The semi-autobiographical play, at the Wyndham Theatre from March 19 to June 8, will star Brian Cox in the lead role.
Next Spring will also see Harland play the title role in the Disney+ fantasy adventure series The Ballad of Renegade Nell
Looking stunning in newly released pictures of the highly anticipated Sally Wainwright original, her character is a quick-witted and courageous young woman who finds herself framed for murder. She unexpectedly becomes the most notorious highwaywoman in 18th Century England.
Then when a magical spirit called Billy Blind, played by Nick Mohammed (Ted Lasso), appears, Nell realises her destiny is bigger than she ever imagined.
