Sophie Okonedo to play Medea at new West End theatre

The production, beginning next February, will be directed by Dominic Cooke for @sohoplace in London

Sophie Okonedo is to star as Medea at the new West End theatre @sohoplace in a production directed by Dominic Cooke next year.

Cooke described Euripides's Medea as a play defined by the actor who plays it" and said that Okonedo has the visceral power, intelligence and courage to ... go to the extreme places that the part demands". When he first approached her with the idea, the Oscar-nominated actor had a busy schedule and was unconvinced but agreed to a rehearsed reading, which the director described as electrifying.