Things We Do For Love Recast at Duchess

Alan Ayckbourn's hit comedy Things We Do For Love will transfer to the Duchess Theatre for an open-ended run from Wednesday, 26 August 1998. The play - written and directed by Ayckbourn and starring Jane Asher - has been playing at the Gielgud Theatre since 3 March (previews from 26 February). The move will include a complete change of the four-strong cast.

The play, Ayckbourn's 52nd, tells the story of prickly landlady, Barbara, who has remained resolutely single, devoting her life to her work and to her boss, a powerful City executive. Her neat little world is as carefully organised as her tidy flat, with few distractions save for the relentlessly cheerful Gilbert who lives downstairs. But then Barbara rents out her top floor flat to her old friend, Nikki, only to discover that she detests - and then begins to love - Nikki's new fiancé, Hamish. The four house-sharers soon learn that no one can live without love and, once they get it, there are few things they won't do to keep it.

Belinda Lang, of television's 2 Point 4 Children, takes over from Asher as 'Barbara'. Alexander Hanson, currently appearing in The London Cuckolds at the National Theatre, plays man-in-the-middle 'Hamish'. They are joined by Caroline Harker as 'Nikki' and Adrian McLoughlin as 'Gilbert'.

The new cast is directed by Mark Rayment, based on the original production by Ayckbourn. Designs are by Roger Glossop, lighting by Mick Hughes and music by John Pattison. The play is presented at the Duchess by Michael Codron and Lee Dean.

Ayckbourn won the Lloyds Private Banking Playwright of the Year Award last year for Things We Do For Love, which had its world premiere at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough in April 1997.

Things We Do For Love follows Yasmina Reza's The Unexpected Man into the Duchess. The Unexpected Man, an RSC production starring Eileen Atkins and Michael Gambon, transferred from the Barbican Pit. It closes Saturday, 22 August 1998.

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