Kim Cattrall returns to London stage in Linda

Kim Cattrall's last stage appearance in London was in Sweet Bird of Youth in 2013

Kim Cattrall is to return to the London stage in a new play set in the "vicious" world of the beauty industry.

The Sex and the City star will take the title role in Linda, written by Penelope Skinner, at the Royal Court from 25 November.

She'll play a top marketing executive with a beauty company who realises her career has hit a brick wall.

Royal Court artistic director Vicky Featherstone described Linda as a "bold, beautifully written play".

She said it was about "a 55-year-old woman and her fight to remain visible in her world".

She also told the Daily Mail that Cattrall and Skinner wanted a play that featured a female character as "flawed and mythic" as Johnny "Rooster" Byron, played by Mark Rylance in Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem - which also started life at the Court.

Featherstone said Greek tragedies - such as Medea and Antigone - had epic roles for a leading actress, but few contemporary dramas did.

Cattrall was last on the London stage two years ago playing a faded Hollywood star in Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth at the Old Vic.

Linda will be directed by Michael Longhurst, whose credits for the Royal Court include hit drama Constellations, now back in London after a UK tour.

Other casting announced for the Royal Court's autumn season includes David Morrissey, Graeme Hawley, Ralph Ineson, Sally Rogers, Simon Rouse and Reece Shearsmith in Hangmen by Martin McDonagh.