Theatre News

Love in Idleness transfers to the West End

Trevor Nunn’s production of Terence Rattigan’s play starring Eve Best and Anthony Head will transfer

Trevor Nunn's production of Love in Idleness is to transfer to the Apollo Theatre.

Opening last week at the Menier Chocolate Factory, the production stars Eve Best, Anthony Head, Helen George, Vivienne Rochester, Edward Bluemel and Nicola Sloane. The whole cast will reprise their roles apart from George, due to pre-existing film commitments.

Terence Rattigan's play looks at what happens when 18 year-old Michael returns home after a four year absence to find his widowed mother the mistress of a cabinet minister.

The show opened to five star reviews including one from WhatsOnStage's Sarah Crompton who wrote that "The whole thing is performed with a real sense of period tone and comic timing but also with finely calibrated sense of the powerful emotions at work."

It is the first time the play has been performed in London since 1944. The show runs from 11 May to 1 July at the Apollo Theatre – a limited run of only 50 performances. Tickets go on sale to the public from 9am on 29 March.

Love in Idleness runs at the Menier Chocolate Factory until 29 April. It opens at the Apollo Theatre on 18 May, with previews from 11 May.