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Hamlet snub led Dominic West to mid-life crisis role
Louise Jury, Chief Arts CorrespondentUpdated 12:12pm on 22 Feb 2011
The Wire star Dominic West agreed to star as a man having a mid-life crisis after suffering one himself when no one would let him play Hamlet.
West, 41, said he begged everyone he knew to let him tackle the role which he had played only in an amateur production aged 17 at Eton. When it became clear that no one would cast him, he looked again at the Simon Gray play, Butley, about an alcoholic professor whose life is falling apart.
The part was played 40 years ago by Alan Bates. West said: "I didn't see the point of it until I had a mid-life crisis and then I thought it was the best play ever written."
Eleanor Lloyd, 31, won £25,000 from the Stage One Start-Up Fund, which encourages new producers, to help her become a shareholder in the production. Butley, co-starring Paul McGann and Penny Downie, is at the Duchess Theatre from June 1.
Reader views (1)
Fantastic stage actor, I saw him "Life is a Dream" at Donmar...glad he's back to theatre again.
- liz, ashtead, 23/02/2011 11:22
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