Dominic West to take West End role

British actor Dominic West, star of HBO’s The Wire, is to return to the London stage this summer in a new production of Simon Gray’s 1970 play Butley.

West, who is about to star in new BBC drama The Hour penned by Abi Morgan, will take on the role of Butley, an alcoholic academic in the throes of a mid-life crisis. The role was originally played by Alan Bates, and starred Nathan Lane on Broadway in 2003.

Harold Pinter, who directed Bates in the first West End production in 1971, called the character of Butley “a remarkable creation” and said in his introduction to the Faber collection of Simon Gray’s plays that he “found its savage, lacerating wit hard to beat… The extraordinary thing about Butley, it still seems to me, is that the play gives us a character who hurls himself towards the destruction while living, in the fever of his intellectual hell, with a vitality and brilliance known to few of us.”

The play will be directed by Lindsay Posner and run at the Duchess Theatre from 1 June 2011. West will star alongside Paul McGann.

Chichester Festival Theatre’s musical production of Love Story is currently playing at the Duchess, with Tim Firth’s Sign of the Times following from 7 March starring Matthew Kelly and Gerard Kearns.

LINKS

Book tickets to Butley starring Dominic West at the Duchess Theatre

Should No. 10 be celebrating the West End?

Should Number 10 be following the White House’s lead and doing its bit to support the West End, asks Paul Raven

The next in the “A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House” is up again on PBS in the USA this Wednesday, 20 October (see a preview here).

The show will feature Nathan Lane as emcee and songs from Idina Menzel – singing Defying Gravity from Wicked – Brian d’Arcy James, Audra McDonald, Chad Kimball, Marvin Hamlisch, Karen Olivo and Assata Alston.

The show was taped back in July in the East Room of the White House in front of President and Mrs Obama, who are great supporters of Broadway and theatre in general.

This kind of event is an incredible showcase for Broadway, and provides not only great publicity but also sends out a clear message that the creative theatre arts in America are important – and something that can be enjoyed by everyone.

As we hurtle towards unprecedented cuts in Arts spending, organisations such as SOLT should be lobbying hard for politicians to provide support in other ways for the West End: it may be commercial theatre, but it is also at the epicentre of our cultural life in the UK and needs to be publicly celebrated.

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Actor Winners

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Actor Winners

Best Actor

2012 Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller for Frankenstein
2011 Roger Allam for Henry IV Parts 1 & 2
2010 Mark Rylance for Jerusalem
2009 Derek Jacobi for Twelfth Night
2008 Chiwetel Ejiofor in Othello
2007 Rufus Sewell for Rock ‘N’ Roll
2006 Brian Dennehy for Death Of A Salesman
2005 Richard Griffiths for The History Boys
2004 Matthew Kelly for Of Mice And Men
2003 Simon Russell Beale for Uncle Vanya
2002 Roger Allam for Privates On Parade
2001 Conleth Hill for Stones In His Pockets
2000 Henry Goodman for The Merchant Of Venice
1999 Kevin Spacey for The Iceman Cometh
1998 Ian Holm for King Lear
1997 Antony Sher for Stanley
1996 Alex Jennings for Peer Gynt
1995 David Bamber for My Night With Reg
1994 Mark Rylance for Much Ado About Nothing
1993 Robert Stephens for Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2)
1992 Nigel Hawthorne for The Madness Of George III
1991 Ian McKellen for Richard III
1989/90 Oliver Ford Davies for Racing Demon
1987 Michael Gambon for A View From The Bridge
1986 Albert Finney for Orphans
1985 Antony Sher for Richard III and Torch Song Trilogy

Actor of the Year in a New Play

1988 David Haig for Our Country’s Good
1984 Brian Cox for Rat In The Skull
1983 Jack Shepherd for Glengarry Glen Ross
1982 Ian McDiarmid for lnsignificance
1981 Trevor Eve for Children Of A Lesser God
1980 Roger Rees for Nicholas Nickleby
1979 Ian McKellen for Bent
1978 Tom Conti for Whose Life Is It Anyway?
1977 Michael Bryant for State Of Revolution
1976 Paul Copley for King And Country

Actor of the Year in a Revival

1988 Brian Cox for Titus Andronicus
1984 Ian McKellen for Wild Honey
1983 Derek Jacobi for Cyrano De Bergerac
1982 Stephen Moore for A Doll’s House
1981 Daniel Massey for Man And Superman
1980 Jonathan Pryce for Hamlet
1979 Warren Mitchell for Death Of A Salesman
1978 Alan Howard for Coriolanus
1977 Ian McKellen for Pillars Of The Community
1976 Alan Howard for Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2) and Henry V

Best Actor in a Musical

2012 Bertie Carvel for Matilda The Musical
2011 David Thaxton for Passion
2010 Aneurin Barnard for Spring Awakening
2009 Douglas Hodge for La Cage aux Folles
2008 Michael Ball for Hairspray
2007 Daniel Evans for Sunday In The Park With George
2006 James Lomas, George Maguire and Liam Mower for Billy Elliot – The Musical
2005 Nathan Lane for The Producers
2004 David Bedella for Jerry Springer – The Opera
2003 Alex Jennings for My Fair Lady
2002 Philip Quast for South Pacific
2001 Daniel Evans for Merrily We Roll Along
2000 Simon Russell Beale for Candide
1999 The cast of Kat and The Kings
1998 Philip Quast for The Fix
1997 Robert Lindsay for Oliver!
1996 Adrian Lester for Company
1995 John Gordon Sinclair for She Loves Me
1994 Alun Armstrong for Sweeney Todd
1993 Henry Goodman for Assassins
1992 Alan Bennett for Talking Heads
1991 Philip Quast for Sunday In The Park With George
1989/90 Jonathan Pryce for Miss Saigon
1988 Con O’Neill for Blood Brothers
1987 John Bardon and Emil Wolk for Kiss Me Kate
1986 Michael Crawford for The Phantom Of The Opera
1985 Robert Lindsay for Me And My Girl
1984 Paul Clarkson for The Hired Man
1983 Denis Lawson for Mr. Cinders
1982 Roy Hudd for Underneath The Arches
1981 Michael Crawford for Barnum
1980 Denis Quilley for Sweeney Todd
1979 Anton Rodgers for Songbook