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West End prepares for autumn of high drama
By Louise Jury, Evening Standard 28.08.07
Former Friends and Cold Feet star Helen Baxendale is appearing in Swimming With Sharks at the Vaudeville Theatre
Hollywood star Stockard Channing first made her name in the movie Grease as Betty Rizzo, and has gone on to win Emmys, Tony awards and earn Oscar nominations
Mel Smith will make his West End debut in a production of the hit broadway show Hairspray
Patrick Stewart may be best known as Star Trek's Captain Jean-Luc Picard, but the actor has a string of theatre credits to his name
Having wowed London theatregoers last year with One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Christian Slater returns to the West End to play the role which made Kevin Spacey's name in cult film Swimming With Sharks
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London theatre is gearing up for a spectacular autumn with big name stars topping the bill. Charles Dance is the latest to head for the West End, following Christian Slater and Stockard Channing from Hollywood, and a host of home-grown actors, from Mel Smith to Patrick Stewart.
Dance will play author CS Lewis in the first major revival of William Nicholson's award-winning play, Shadowlands.
It tells how the creator of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe falls in love with an American woman, but sees his deep religious faith challenged when she develops cancer.
Nigel Hawthorne played the role on stage 17 years ago in a production that transferred to Broadway. Anthony Hopkins later took the part in the film version.
Dance said he was delighted to be bringing a "beautifully constructed play" back to the West End. "You might think the subject matter is not a bundle of laughs, but every time the thing gets to the point where it might cross into mawkish sentimentality, somebody says something very funny," he said.
The play will be an antidote to a recent glut of musicals that has been alarming some theatre-lovers. Dance said: "There are some fantastic musicals on but, as everybody has been talking about for months, the percentage of musicals to straight plays is getting ridiculous."
Now the balance is being restored. Productions range from Restoration comedy The Country Wife, starring Toby Stephens, to David Mamet's American drama Glengarry Glen Ross with Jonathan Pryce.
Ewan McGregor and Chiwetel Ejiofor will star in Othello at the Donmar from the end of November. Simon Russell Beale and Zoë Wanamaker take the roles of Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing at the National from December.
The epic Nicholas Nickleby, in which a cast of 27 play more than a hundred parts, will be back for Christmas. The Chichester Festival Theatre production runs at the Gielgud Theatre from 5 December.
Charles Dance
Shadowlands, Wyndham's Theatre 3 October-15 December
Dance will take the role of CS Lewis. The 61-year-old star of TV dramas, including The Jewel In The Crown, Rebecca and Bleak House, has appeared in films from The Golden Child with Eddie Murphy and Gosford Park. He worked with Jessica Lange in the West End production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, and opposite Maggie Smith in A Delicate Balance.
Helen Baxendale
Swimming With Sharks, Vaudeville Theatre, 5 October-19 January
She will play a sexy Hollywood producer in her latest theatre role, just announced. The 38-year-old actress started work in TV series Cardiac Arrest before playing Rachel Bradley in the popular Cold Feet series. The mother-of-three went on to portray private eye Cordelia Grey in the 1997 film An Unsuitable Job For A Woman. She also appeared in American sitcom Friends and in recent years has taken stage roles at the Royal Court and the Donmar.
Stockard Channing
Awake and Sing!, Almeida, 31 August-20 October
The Hollywood star plays a strong-willed matriarch in Awake And Sing!, a Jewish drama by US playwright Clifford Odets. Her co-stars include Jodie Whittaker, rising star of the film Venus. Channing played Betty Rizzo in the movie Grease and has won Emmys, Tony awards and had Oscar nominations. She was in the stage and film versions of Six Degrees Of Separation and played First Lady Abbey Bartlet in The West Wing on TV.
Mel Smith
Hairspray, Shaftesbury Theatre, from 11 October
The Chiswick-born comedy actor makes his West End musical debut alongside Michael Ball in a production of the hit Broadway show. He will take the role of Wilbur Turnblad, played by Christopher Walken in this year's film re-make. Smith, 54, started work in theatre in production at the Royal Court and played Winston Churchill on stage last year.
Toby Stephens
The Country Wife, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 27 September-12 January
Stephens joins a star cast for The Country Wife, a Restoration comedy by William Wycherley. Best-known for playing supervillain Gustav Graves in James Bond film Die Another Day, the 38-year-old actor comes from theatrical nobility. The London-born son of Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens, he began his film career in 1992 in Orlando. He was in TV drama The Camomile Lawn and his stage credits include Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Jonathan Pryce
Glengarry Glen Ross, Apollo Theatre, 27 September-12 January
The star of films such as Brazil, Evita and Tomorrow Never Dies returns to the London stage as Shelley Levene in David Mamet's production of Glengarry Glen Ross. The part was played by Jack Lemmon in the 1992 movie, in which Pryce appeared as James Lingk. The 60-year-old started in theatre with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Everyman in Liverpool and was last seen in The Goat. He played Professor Higgins in Trevor Nunn's My Fair Lady.
Patrick Stewart
Macbeth, Gielgud Theatre, 21 September-1 December
He will play the title role when the Chichester Festival Theatre's Macbeth comes to town. Stewart, 67, may be best known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek, but is a theatre stalwart who was in an acclaimed version of Ibsen's Master Builder, as well as Royal Shakespeare Company productions.
Patricia Hodge
The Country Wife, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 27 September-12 January
Hodge, 60, joins Toby Stephens and David Haig in the first of a new season of work directed by Jonathan Kent. Her TV credits including Rumpole Of The Bailey and she is a West End regular, most recently appearing in Noises Off.
Christian Slater
Swimming With Sharks, Vaudeville Theatre, 5 October-19 January.
Slater will play Buddy Ackerman, the role created by Kevin Spacey in the cult film about the movie industry. The 38-year-old former hellraiser, who made his name in The Name Of The Rose (1986), wowed London theatregoers in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest last year.
Alex Jennings
Present Laughter, National Theatre 25 Sept-3 November
Jennings stars alongside Lisa Dillon in Noël Coward's Present Laughter. The 50-year-old is probably best-known for his turn as Prince Charles in Stephen Frears's film The Queen. However, he is a favourite of theatre audiences and won an Olivier Award for My Fair Lady. He has taken a string of lead roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the National.
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