BWW Flashback: Review the Stage Careers of the Cast of THE CROWN!

We're taking a closer look at the stage credits of Olivia Coleman, Gillian Anderson, Tobias Menzies, and more!

By: Nov. 28, 2020
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The Crown has held as one of Netflix's top series since the release of Season 4 on November 15, perhaps partly due to the stellar performances from its cast. Did you know that many of the company members have extensive backgrounds onstage in London and around the world.

Below, we're taking a closer look at some of their past stage credits.


Olivia Colman (Queen Elizabeth II)

BWW Flashback: Review the Stage Careers of the Cast of THE CROWN!
Photo Credit: Liam Daniel

A graduate of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Oscar winner Olivia Coleman also has a history on stage, having starred in Long Day's Journey Into Night at the Lyric Theatre (2000), England People Very Nice at the Royal National Theatre (2009), Hay Fever at the Noël Coward Theatre (2012), and Mosquitoes at the Royal National Theatre (2017).

BWW Flashback: Review the Stage Careers of the Cast of THE CROWN!
Coleman in Mosquitoes. Photo credit: Brinkhoff Mogenburg

Gillian Anderson (Margaret Thatcher)

BWW Flashback: Review the Stage Careers of the Cast of THE CROWN!
Photo Credit: Sophie Mutevelian

Anderson's extensive stage work includes Absent Friends (1991), for which she won a Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer; A Doll's House (2009), for which she was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award, and a portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (2014, 2016), winning the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress and receiving a second Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress. In 2019, she portrayed Margo Channing in the stage production of All About Eve for which she received her third Laurence Olivier Award nomination.


Tobias Menzies (Prince Philip)

BWW Flashback: Review the Stage Careers of the Cast of THE CROWN!
Photo Credit: Sophie Mutevelian

Menzies' theatrical debut was in Hristo Boytchev's comedy The Colonel Bird, which ran at The Gate London in 1999. In 2002, he portrayed Valentine in the Royal Theatre's production of Tom Stoppard's tragic comedy Arcadia. He played young teacher Irwin in Alan Bennett's The History Boys, which Nicholas Hytner directed at the Royal National Theatre. He would go on to star in Michael Blakemore's West End production of Three Sisters, for which he was nominated for the Ian Charleson Award, and the title role in Rupert Goold's production of Hamlet, at the Royal Theatre, Northampton. In 2011, Menzies featured as Dr. Joseph Cardin, opposite Keira Knightley's Karen Wright, in Lillian Hellman's 1934 drama The Children's Hour. 2019 saw Menzies appear in The Gate Theatre's production of Sarah Ruhl's Dear, Elizabeth.

BWW Flashback: Review the Stage Careers of the Cast of THE CROWN!
Tobias in The Children's Hour. Photo Credit: Johan Persson

Helena Bonham Carter (Princess Margaret)

BWW Flashback: Review the Stage Careers of the Cast of THE CROWN!
Photo Credit: Ollie Upton

In addition to starring in the film adaptations of beloved musicals Les Miserables and Sweeney Todd, Bonham Carter has also appeared on stage in The Tempest (1987), Trelawny of the "Wells" (1992), and The Barber of Seville (1992).


Josh O'Connor (Prince Charles)

BWW Flashback: Review the Stage Careers of the Cast of THE CROWN!
Photo Credit: Alex Bailey

A graduate of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, on the stage, O'Connor has appeared on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company in The Shoemaker's Holiday and Oppenheimer, at The Donmar Warehouse in Versailles and at Southwark Playhouse in Farragut North.

BWW Flashback: Review the Stage Careers of the Cast of THE CROWN!
Josh in The Shoemaker's Holiday

Erin Doherty (Princess Anne)

BWW Flashback: Review the Stage Careers of the Cast of THE CROWN!
Photo Credit: Des Willie

Since graduating from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2015, she has appeared in a number of productions, including My Name Is Rachel Corrie, a one-woman play about the activist Rachel Corrie. Doherty also starred in Jack Thorne's play Junkyard, and in Alan Ayckbourn's play The Divide at the Old Vic Theatre.

BWW Flashback: Review the Stage Careers of the Cast of THE CROWN!
Erin in The Divide. Photo Credit: Manuel Harlan


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