US Actresses Turn Out for London V-Day Event

This Sunday in London, American playwright and performer Eve Ensler will repeat her Valentine's Day ode to the vagina, which gained so much attention when the gala event was held last year in New York. The London event, staged 14 February at the Old Vic Theatre in the West End, will feature a number of American and British female stars who will recite Ensler's work, which she normally performs as a one-woman show, The Vagina Monologues, currently running in London at the fringe King's Head Theatre in Islington, north London.

Participants for the Valentine's gala include British film stars Kate Winslet and Natasha McElhone (Ronin and Surviving Picasso), American film stars Melanie Griffiths and Marisa Tomei, Australian film star and winner of the Golden Globe for Elizabeth Cate Blanchett, Calista Flockhart (TV's Ally McBeal), Gillian Anderson (The X-Files), Sophie Dahl, Dani Behr and Jane Lapateur. Proceeds from the event will be donated to to numerous women's and children's charities.

Ensler developed the show, subtitled 'An Anthropological Exploration', following interviews with hundreds of women about their genitalia. The piece involves a series of monologues and intimate revelations. Ensler received an Obie Award and a Drama Desk nomination when the piece premiered off-off Broadway in 1996-97. In 1998, the New York V-Day gala featured Glenn Close, Goldie Hawn, Rosie Perez, Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, Gloria Steinem, Lily Tomlin, Joanne Woodward and many other American celebrities.

Following Sunday's event, Ensler continues solo in The Vagina Monologues at the King's Head Theatre until 6 March. For further information, contact the King's Head box office on +44-171-226-1916.

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