Kevin Spacey will return to the London stage next January in a caustic satire on the film business by celebrated American playwright David Mamet.

The Hollywood actor will play Bobby Gould in a revival of Speed-the-Plow which will run from January to April at the Old Vic where he is artistic director.

Spacey said that he would appear in the entire run, after disappointing some fans by taking a break during The Philadelphia Story last year to fulfil an earlier commitment to film Superman Returns. "I will never take time out from a production again. My single and total focus is the Old Vic," he said.

Speaking from New York where he is appearing in the Broadway transfer of this year's hit, A Moon For The Misbegotten, he said he had always regarded Speed-the-Plow as "a really good play. I hope to underscore what a good play it is".

Sam Mendes, who directed Spacey in his Oscar-winning film American Beauty, plays a major part in the Old Vic's new season. An adaptation of Pedro Almodovar's film, All About My Mother, has been made with Mendes's production company and the British director will also direct two Shakespeare plays.

It is the first time Almodovar has permitted the production of a major play based on one of his films in nearly 20 years. The Spanish director, who took part in a workshop at the Old Vic last year, said: "The characters I had created for the film did not yield an inch of their nature, yet fitted the stage perfectly."

After the success of Ian McKellen as Widow Twankey, Stephen Fry has written a pantomime for this Christmas. Fry said: "I've tried to remember that for many of the children who come it will be their first Cinderella. Pantomime should be the beginning of a never-ending love affair with theatre. Oh yes it should."

The season will continue with Speed-the-Plow and conclude with Mendes directing Stephen Dillane as Hamlet and in The Tempest.

Spacey said he was pleased

Mendes wanted to present such "big epic work" at the theatre. He added:

"When you look at the breadth of the season, it is in many ways what I have been talking about wanting to get at the Old Vic since the beginning. I've always said it would take three or four seasons to find our footing as a company and find momentum.

"We're still a fledgling company. But with Moon and The Entertainer, which has just closed, and [the forthcoming] Gaslight, it's a really strong period for us."

A Moon For The Misbegotten has turned a profit on Broadway for the Old Vic which receives no public subsidy. It closes in New York on 10 June, the day Spacey's co- star Eve Best discovers whether she has won a Tony Award.

The theatre has also secured a new sponsor. Adityal Mittal, the son of the steel magnate and Labour party donor Lakshmi, is underwriting £12 seats for young people. Spacey was introduced to the Mittals by Bill Clinton who also supported a benefit evening for the Old Vic in New York.