Gillian Anderson to perform in A Streetcar Named Desire

Anderson has taken a number of roles on the London stage

Gillian Anderson is making a return to the London stage to play the lead in the Young Vic's adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire.

The former X Files actress will play Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' classic tragedy next year.

The Young Vic's new season will also see Juliet Stevenson take on the role of Winnie in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days.

The season will also include plays by Arthur Miller and Anton Chekhov.

Benedict Andrews will direct A Streetcar Named Desire, having had great success with Chekhov's Three Sisters at the Young Vic in 2012.

The play sees an already fragile Blanche DuBois completely breakdown after she moves in with her sister and is tormented by her violent brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski.

Anderson has previously appeared on the London stage in A Doll's House at the Donmar Warehouse in 2009 and What The Night is For in 2012.

Artistic director David Lan said: "Andrews' Three Sisters was one of the most talked about shows of recent years. I expect no less of this great combination of artists."

Chekov's The Cherry Orchard will be given a "fresh" take by writer Simon Stephens, whose Young Vic version of A Doll's House transferred to the West End after its Young Vic run.

The play will be directed by Katie Mitchell, who directed Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in 1998 and has since directed all his other major works at the theatre.

Beckett's Happy Days, written in 1961, is a one-woman play steeped in existential despair.

Mr Lan said: "I am thrilled Juliet Stevenson will make her Young Vic debut as Winnie in Natalie Abrahami's new production of Beckett's masterpiece Happy Days.

"Winnie is one of the greatest and most demanding stage roles ever written."

The Young Vic will also be staging Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge, a tale of obsession and betrayal set in 1950s America, in April 2014.