The Daily Telegraph
September 24, 2011

FORMER Packed To The Rafters star Jessica Marais will take time out from her bid to crack Hollywood by returning to her stage roots to play Eliza Doolittle in a Sydney Theatre Company production of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.

Marais, currently shooting the US gangster series Magic City in Miami, will return later this year to begin rehearsals for the play which will run from January 31 until March 3. The NIDA graduate will star in the original rags-to-riches tale alongside Kim Gyngell (who plays Henry Higgins) and Wendy Hughes.

The STC's Oscar winning artistic director Cate Blanchett made the announcement yesterday, along with husband and STC co-artistic director Andrew Upton, heralding a new season line-up which will focus more on local talent than on big-name, visiting international stars.

And it seems Marais is not the only TV favourite set to walk the boards, with her former Rafters co-star Erik Thomson to appear as a grieving dad in The Splinter.

Meanwhile Blanchett joked there will be plenty of "shagging" in their new season line-up which is dominated by saucy, sex-filled productions including Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) starring Hugo Weaving and Sex With Strangers (with Jacqueline McKenzie).

"Maybe shagging is the theme, or a lot of missed shagging," Upton joked, while Blanchett added: "It's been on our minds."

Hmm. Too much information?