STAR of the West End and Royal Shakespeare Company, Jonathan Slinger, will be coming ‘home’ for Arthur Miller’s classic play A View From The Bridge which opens at the Octagon Theatre Bolton in September.

East Lancashire born Jonathan will play Eddie, the first time he will have played a lead role in an Arthur Miller production.

A View From The Bridge is the first major revival in the UK for nearly a decade and is a joint production by the Octagon, Headlong, the Chichester Festival Theatre and Rose Theatre.

Directed by Holly Race Roughan, the artistic director of Headlong, the production also stars Nancy Crane who plays Alfieri, the play’s narrator. It will be the first time Alfieri will be played by a woman.

Jonathan Slinger said: “I am thrilled to be working with the highly acclaimed Headlong Theatre and artistic director, Holly Race Roughan on what will be my first time taking to the professional stage in a piece by the great Arthur Miller.

“Being from Lancashire myself, Bolton’s Octagon Theatre is a theatre close to my heart and the ideal venue for us to debut this fascinating new production that examines Arthur Miller’s classic text.”

With the RSC Jonathan has played both Hamlet and Macbeth and he enjoyed a long run as Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in London’s West End.

Holly Race Roughan said: “A View from the Bridge remains one of the most extraordinary plays I have ever read, and it is an honour to be co-producing it alongside some of the country’s most important theatres.”

A View From The Bridge is at the Octagon Theatre Bolton from Friday, September 8 to Saturday, September 30. Details from www.octagonbolton.co.uk