Hall's Servant Returns to West End, 14 Dec

Lee Hall, one of Britain's hottest young playwrights, returns to the West End - and, specifically, the New Ambassadors Theatre - this December. His adaptation of Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters for the Royal Shakespeare Company, which had a run last year in Stratford before transferring for a run at London's The Young Vic in February, arrives at the New Ambassadors for a Christmas run from 14 December 2000. It will continue until 3 February 2001.

Hall's black comedy Cooking with Elvis - about a 14-year-old girl with a food obsession, a comatose father and sex-mad mother with a baker boyfriend - is still playing at the Whitehall Theatre, where it opened in March and is currently booking to 2 September. It stars comedian Frank Skinner, at some performances.

In total, Hall had an incredible four productions transfer to London within the first four months of this year. In addition to Cooking with Elvis and The Servant of Two Masters, his adaptation of his own acclaimed radio play, Spoonface Steinberg, received a three-week run at the New Ambassadors in January while his adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children, produced by Shared Experience, played there in March. The Servant of Two Masters will be his third play at the New Ambassadors in under 12 months.

Hall's previous theatre credits include the much lauded Mr Puntila and His Man Matti, another Brecht adaptation that was co-produced by the Right Size and the Almeida, which was also an Edinburgh festival hit and went on to a nationwide tour and yet another run in the West End last year.

A mid-18th century farce, The Servant of Two Masters tells the story of Truffaldino who becomes the servant to two different masters at the same time in order to alleviate his hunger and poverty. Jason Watkins, who won critical plaudits for his performance at the The Young Vic, is expected to recreate the role under Tim Supple's direction.

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