Hayley Atwell heading to theatre

Hayley Atwell is set to become the latest star to light up the West End by taking on the lead role in a critically-acclaimed play.

The Captain America: The First Avenger star will appear in Alexi Kaye Campbell's Olivier Award-winning drama The Pride, which previously ran Off-broadway in 2010 with Hugh Dancy, Andrea Riseborough and Skyfall's Ben Whishaw.

In the production, Atwell plays Silvia, a woman whose marriage is crumbling, and she says of the role, "It's about identity and repression. She (Silvia) had the feminine quality of taking her own pain and putting it aside, as she watches her marriage break down."

The Pride will open at London's Trafalgar Studios on 8 August (13), just months after another big name, James McAvoy, was seen in an acclaimed production of Macbeth at the same venue.