Arty Froushan, currently recognized as Wilson Fisk’s sinister henchman Buck Cashman in Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again, has secured a decidedly darker role on the London stage. The rising star is set to portray the infamous serial killer Patrick Bateman in a revamped revival of the musical adaptation of American Psycho. Based on Bret Easton Ellis’s controversial, satirical novel, the production is scheduled to run at London’s Almeida Theatre from January 22 through March 14, 2026.

This creates a full-circle moment for the production. The musical, featuring a book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and a score by Duncan Sheik, originally premiered at the Almeida in 2014. That initial run was directed by Rupert Goold and starred Matt Smith (The Crown, House of the Dragon), who famously captured the duality of the impeccably dressed investment banker with a secret, bloodthirsty lust for depravity. Following a brief Broadway stint in 2016 starring Benjamin Walker, the show returns to its London roots.

A History of “Twisted” Characters

For Froushan, stepping into Bateman’s designer suit feels like a somewhat inevitable progression. Aside from his recent turn as playwright Nöel Coward in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, the actor admits he has inadvertently built a niche playing “psychopaths, basically.”

“Sympathetic, twisted characters… so in some senses, this role feels, it’s scary to say, a natural fit,” Froushan said, adding that his Daredevil character is essentially a “mildly sociopathic” assassin. Similarly, in Carnival Row, he portrayed a vengeful, entitled aristocrat. Most recently, he starred in the stage version of Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty—also at the Almeida—set in Thatcher-era Britain. While his character in that production wasn’t a psychopath, Froushan described him as “a very intense and tortured man.”

Despite this resume of intensity, the actor appears charming and outgoing in person, creating a sharp contrast to the dark figures he inhabits on stage.

From Screen to Stage

Preparing for a musical has been a distinct shift for Froushan, though he notes it isn’t his “first rodeo.” During his time at the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art, he performed in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins and West Side Story. His audition process for American Psycho began in June with a tape of Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World.” At the time, he was wrapping production on the second season of Daredevil on the East Coast before rushing to Montreal to film the romantic comedy The Love Hypothesis for Amazon MGM.

Upon reuniting with director Rupert Goold—who is currently in his final season as artistic director of the Almeida before moving to the Old Vic Theatre—Goold joked that Froushan would “never escape the ’80s,” noting that both The Line of Beauty and American Psycho are deeply entrenched in that decade.

Froushan remains a staunch advocate for live theater. He previously spent nearly two years attached to Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt, performing in both the West End and Broadway productions. He describes screen acting as elusive, something he is still trying to master, whereas he feels “native” to the stage.

“If I spend too long away from the stage, I feel like I lose a sense of what I am about as an actor,” Froushan explained. He is currently taking singing and dancing lessons to prepare for rehearsals.

Curtain Call for ‘Wasserwelt’ in Freiburg

While London gears up for a new opening, a unique musical production is taking its final bow in Germany. The Theater Freiburg is concluding its run of Wasserwelt (Water World), a production that blends adventure with environmental themes.

The story follows Nat, a deep-sea crab who encounters light for the first time in the form of a diving robot. Sparked by curiosity, Nat follows the machine on an adventurous musical journey to the ocean’s surface. Along the way, the narrative weaves together moments of wonder—encountering singing whales and glowing jellyfish—with harsher realities of the marine environment, such as fishing nets and plastic pollution, eventually leading to an encounter with humans.

Theater Freiburg has scheduled the final two performances for the Kleines Haus stage. The show will be presented this Sunday, February 15, at 7:00 p.m., with the absolute final performance taking place on February 22 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets start at 17.30 Euros and are available through BZ offices.