JOANNA LUMLEY in La Bete

Joanna Lumley makes West End and Broadway return

The London and Broadway revival of La Bete, Daid Hirson’s hilarious play, sees Joanna Lumley make a welcome return to the West End, playing the part of Princess Conti.

The cast also includes David Hyde Pierce, best known for playing Dr Niles Crane in the multi award-winning American sitcom Frasier, and recent Olivier award-winner Mark Rylance (Jerusalem).

Lumley is best known for her TV work, including Absolutely Fabulous, The Avengers and Sapphire and Steel. However, she has also had a long and successful stage career, with credits  including Private Lives, Noël and Gertie, Hedda Gabler, Blithe Spirit and An Ideal Husband.

American playwright David Hirson’s rollicking 1991 play, La Bete is a comic tour de force about Elomire (Pierce), a high-minded classical dramatist who loves only the theatre, and Valere (Rylance), a low-brow street clown who loves only himself. When the fickle princess (Lumley) decides she’s grown weary of Elomire’s royal theatre troupe, he and Valere are left fighting for survival as art squares off with ego in a literary showdown for the ages.

La Bete will be directed by Matthew Warchus and will preview from 26 June at the Comedy Theatre in the West End, playing until 4 September, and will then transfer to Broadway.

Book tickets to La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London

DAVID HYDE PIERCE in La Bete

Frasier star makes West End debut in La Bete

David Hyde Pierce is best known for playing Dr Niles Crane in the multi award-winning American sitcom Frasier. But he has also had a long and successful stage career in America  – including winning a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his starring role in Curtains on Broadway. He also originated the role of Brave Sir Robin in Monty Python’s Spamalot and created roles in the Off-Broadway and regional productions of Mark O’Donnell’s That’s it Folks!, Richard Greenberg’s The Author’s Voice and The Maderati, Harry Kondoleon’s Zero Positive, Jules Feiffer’s Elliot Loves and Richard Alfieri’s Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks.  His other stage credits include appearances in Hamlet and Much Ado at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Holiday and Camille at the Long Wharf Theatre, The Seagull, Tartuffe, Cyrano, and Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Guthrie Theatre, and Peter Brook’s production of The Cherry Orchard in New York, Moscow, Leningrad, and Tokyo.

In June this year he will make his West End stage debut as Elomire in La Bete, alongside Mark Rylance (Jerusalem) and Joanna Lumley. The show will be directed by Matthew Warchus.

American playwright David Hirson’s rollicking 1991 play, La Bete is a comic tour de force about Elomire (Pierce), a high-minded classical dramatist who loves only the theatre, and Valere (Rylance), a low-brow street clown who loves only himself. When the fickle princess (Lumley) decides she’s grown weary of Elomire’s royal theatre troupe, he and Valere are left fighting for survival as art squares off with ego in a literary showdown for the ages.

La Bete will preview from 26 June at the Comedy Theatre in the West End, playing until 4 September, and will then transfer to Broadway.

Book tickets to La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London

Rylance Broadway bound

The West End’s man-of-the-moment Mark Rylance will star in a revival of David Hirson’s comedy drama La Bete, initially in London and then New York.

Rylance, who is currently appearing in the Royal Court’s Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre having garnered rave reviews and an Olivier Award nomination for his standout role as Johnny “Rooster” Byron, will follow La Bete on Broadway by taking Jerusalem to New York.

The cast of La Bete will also feature Joanna Lumley, making her Broadway debut in the play, and Frasier’s David Hyde Pierce.

Set in 17^th century France, La Bete is a comedy about a conflict within a theatre troupe, and will be directed by Matthew Warchus and run in the West End for a short season before transferring to New York.

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