Rupert Grint to make West End debut in Mojo revival

Rupert Grint and Ben Whishaw took part in a read-through of the play for director Ian Rickson

Rupert Grint is to make his West End stage debut alongside Ben Whishaw in a West End revival of Jez Butterworth's Mojo.

Daniel Mays and Downton Abbey's Brendan Coyle will also star in the black comedy set in a seedy 1950s Soho night club.

The award-winning play opened at the Royal Court in 1995 and was made into a film released in 1998.

Mojo will begin previews at the Harold Pinter Theatre on 26 October.

The show will be directed by Ian Rickson - who directed the original production - and designed by Ultz, who worked with Rickson and Butterworth on Jerusalem.

Speaking to Baz Bamigboye in the Daily Mail, Rickson said he cast Grint after placing him in a read-through of the play.

'I'd seen the Potter films with my daughter and always thought Rupert was truthful as Ron Weasley. There's something ordinary and centred about him, and in this world of Mojo you want that grittiness,' he said.

Whishaw, who plays Q in the latest Bond films, was last seen on stage opposite Judi Dench in Peter and Alice at the Noel Coward theatre.