Orton Back in West End with Butler???
Date: 1 June 2005
It surely can’t be a coincidence that Hampstead Theatre has drafted in
David Grindley to direct a new revival of Joe Orton’s farce
What the Butler Saw this summer (See Today’s
News). Three years ago, Grindley presented Hampstead with a huge commercial hit with his revival of Mike Leigh’s seminal Seventies comedy
Abigail's Party, which subsequently transferred for an extended season in the West End and toured the UK. Another big hint that
What the Butler Saw is being groomed to transfer is the fact that it’s being presented in association with commercial producers PW Productions. If the production does make it into the West End, it will be Hampstead’s second transfer since it moved into its new £15.7 million state-of-the-art building at the start of 2003 and current artistic director
Anthony Clark took over later that year. In February, Simon Mendes da Costa’s new comedy
Losing Louis moved to the West End’s Trafalgar Studios, where it’s due to complete its limited season on 25 June 2005 (See
News, 4 Feb 2005).
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