Chilling new role for star of screen and stage
He's been an EastEnders favourite and a musical star – but now John Partridge is taking on the role of one of the most notorious villains of the past century.
Patridge, known for his long-running role as Christian Clarke in the BBC soap and extensive range of West End credits from Cats to Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, will don the mask as the refined and sadistic Dr Hannibal Lecter in a new stage production of The Silence of the Lambs, which begins its UK tour at the Curve in Leicester this summer.
When FBI trainee Clarice Starling is sent to interview the psychiatrist and infamous murderer Hannibal Lecter, it’s hoped his brilliant mind will help catch the sadistic serial killer Buffalo Bill. Another girl is missing, and time is running out. But Dr Lecter has questions of his own, and now Clarice must decide: keep a safe distance, or let Hannibal ‘The Cannibal’ into her head?
Acclaimed television writer and playwright Gina Gionfriddo brings Thomas Harris’s thriller to the stage in a new modern adaptation directed by the Curve’s Artistic Director, Nikolai Foster. Gionfriddo’s theatrical adaptation delves into the psychological tension of Thomas Harris’s landmark novel, drawing the audience deep into Clarice and Lecter’s intelligent, intricate and bone-chilling game of cat-and-mouse, as the FBI scramble to catch Buffalo Bill, a serial killer still at large.
John Partridge said of his casting: ‘’How often does an actor get to play a role that by simply saying the character’s name, it takes your breath away. It’s a huge honour, and I intend to savour every morsel of it!’’
Nikolai Foster added: “Taking on a role like Hannibal Lecter requires real guts, tenacity and an appetite to confront the darkest depths of the human condition. Working with John on the role has been incredibly inspiring - his instincts are razor sharp - and there is no finer actor to bring to life Thomas Harris’s most chilling creation in our world premiere stage adaptation.”
At just 16, Partridge left college to join the original UK tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, later transferring to the West End production at the New London Theatre to star as Rum Tum Tugger. He reprised the role in the official filmed version opposite Elaine Paige and John Mills.
Partridge’s extensive West End, touring and international theatre credits include Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Peacock Theatre), A Chorus Line (London Palladium) and Starlight Express (Apollo Victoria Theatre).
A well-known television personality, he won Celebrity MasterChef (BBC) and has appeared on The Real Full Monty (ITV), Taking The Next Step (CBBC) and Tumble (BBC). He has also served as a celebrity judge on Over the Rainbow (BBC) and is a regular contributor on Jeremy Vine (Channel 5).
The Silence of the Lambs runs at the Curve from Saturday August 1 to Saturday August 15. Visit curveonline.co.uk or call 0116 242 3560 to book.