Fox Stars in Chiltern Hundreds Revival
Date: 4 November 1999
Edward Fox stars in the revival of William Douglas Home's 1947 comedy The Chiltern Hundreds, which has just announced its West End opening for this month, following a short regional tour. Previews for the play begin next Tuesday, 9 November, and it opens Wednesday 17 November at the Vaudeville Theatre.
The Chiltern Hundreds - the first of Douglas Home's many post-war, upper-middle-class comedies and dramas which became West End successes - reflects the quirks and eccentricities of the author's own family background.
Set during the General Election of 1945, the criss-cross of political attitudes at Lister Castle leads to mayhem. With the Earl of Lister's family and household at odds with one another, the family tradition of always voting Conservative flies out the window. Add to that the arrival of the Earl's son's glamorous American fiancee, and disaster is only narrowly averted when the butler, Beecham, takes a hand. His master meanwhile has his own pressing concerns to deal with, including how to keep the rabbits off the cabbage patch.
Edward Fox, who plays the idiosyncratic Earl, was last seen in the West End in 1998 playing Harold Macmillan in Hugh Whitemore's A Letter of Resignation. He is joined in the cast by Polly Adams, Mark Dexter, Delia Lindsay, Carli Norris, Malcolm Rennie, Finty Williams and Moray Watson. The Chiltern Hundreds is directed by Ray Cooney and designed by Simon Higlett with lighting by Nick Ritchings.
Steven Berkoff's East, which is currently playing at the Vaudeville, completes its run this Saturday, 6 November.
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