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Homeland ex-star (and soon to be Paul Robeson on the big screen in a biopic) David Harewood has been cast as Oberon, the Fairy King, in Julie Taymor’s upcoming production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, according to actor via his Twitter page as you can see above.

This will be an Off-Broadway production at Theatre For A New Audience, in Brooklyn, with performances beginning on October 19, followed by a November 2 official opening.

Harewood followed the above tweet with:

Actually I turned down a role in a movie so I could do the theatre gig. I thought I’d get more out of doing some Shakespeare

Of course I’m now wondering what movie role he turned down to take the Off-Broadway gig.

The play follows the events surrounding the marriage of the Theseus (Duke of Athens), and Hippolyta. Oberon is the king of all of the fairies who is feuding with his wife Titania, the queen of the fairies, over a changeling child that Oberon wants to raise as his henchman. Because Oberon and Titania are powerful fairies, their arguments affect the weather.

But that’s just a fraction of the play’s story which features three interlocking plots.

Harewood certainly isn’t a stranger to the stage. His credits include playing Martin Luther King in the London West End premiere of Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop and Theseus in Moira Buffini’s play Welcome to Thebes at the National Theatre in London.

Taymor is of course the revered creative force behind numerous stunning, and innovative productions, in the worlds of theater, opera, and film.

Blavity EntertainmentDavid HarewoodShadow and ActTheater