Bad Behaving Morrissey Joins Mamet's Plow

British television star Neil Morrissey, of Men Behaving Badly fame, will star in the new cast of David Mamet's 1988 Hollywood satire, Speed-the-Plow, which returns to the West End next month.

The production - at the time starring Mark Strong, Kimberly Williams and playwright Patrick Marber in his stage acting debut - played at the New Ambassadors for a month earlier this year. It re-opens at the Duke of York's on 29 June with the new cast, featuring Morrissey, Nathaniel Parker and Gina Bellman.

Speed the Plow focuses on ambitious Hollywood producer Bobby and his decision, brought about by his seduction by a sexy temp, to film a novel about a nuclear catastrophe and the end of the world rather than the star-laden, sure-fire hit brought to him by his grovelling sidekick.

Though Morrissey is best known as the hard-drinking, dim-witted Tony in the Men Behaving Badly TV sitcom, he's no stranger to the stage. He starred alongside Stephanie Cole in the 1994 West End production of A Passionate Woman. Nathaniel Parker's stage credits include 50 Revolutions (Whitehall) while Gina Bellman starred in the National's production last year of Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick.

The original Broadway production of Speed the Plow starred Madonna while the British premiere was mounted by the National in 1989. This production was the first major London revival. It toured to Oxford, Richmond and Brighton before playing, to good reviews, at the New Ambassadors in March and April.

Speed-the-Plow is directed by Peter Gill, with design by John Gunter, lighting by Andy Phillips and musical composition by Terry Davies.

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