Bill Bailey Sketches Pinter in West End???
Date: 2 January 2007
Since
Harold Pinter’s Nobel Prize win (See
News, 8 Dec 2005), the tribute works have been coming thick and fast. Already announced for this year are the transfer of the Sheffield revival of
The Caretaker and the first major London production in 40 years of
The Dumb Waiter, starring
Lee Evans and
Jason Isaacs (See Today’s
News). For his homage to the master, director
Sean Foley (aka one half of The Right Size, whose hits include
The Play What I Wrote) has selected 11 rarely seen Pinter sketches -
Night (1969) and
The New World Order (1991) amongst them – and assembled a crack team of comic actors - Bill Bailey (
Never Mind the Buzzcocks), Kevin Eldon (
The Big Train), Geraldine McNulty (
My Hero) and Sally Phillips (
Green Wing). The production has already had an out-of-town tryout at – bizarrely – the Landmark Theatre in Ilfracombe, north Devon. Why there? Bailey lives in the nearby village of Combe Martin and arranged the special, sell-out preview performances on 1 and 2 December 2006 via his own local connections.
The Harold Pinter Sketches was a sell-out at the 480-seat venue. It’s now expected to have a limited West End season ahead of a more extensive regional tour. No further dates or venues have yet been announced.
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