Reza's Conversations Premieres at Almeida

The Almeida Theatre will stage the British premiere of award-winning French playwright Yasmina Reza's latest play in the autumn. Conversations After a Burial will run at the Almeida's home venue in Islington, north London, from 7 September to 21 October 2000.

The threehander, which unveils secret loves and betrayals at the graveside of a man's father, is translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Howard Davies. It's designed by Vicki Mortimer with lighting by Mark Henderson and sound by John A Leonard. Casting has yet to be confirmed.

Art, Reza's first big British hit, also translated by Hampton, is currently in its fifth year at Wyndham's Theatre in the West End. The comedy about modern art and friendship, which has attracted a string of all-star casts since its opening, currently stars Richard Thomas (aka John-Boy Walton from The Waltons), Patrick Duffy (aka Bobby Ewing from Dallas) and Paul Freeman. Art has won more Laurence Olivier Award nominations (five) than any other play. It won both the Evening Standard and Olivier Awards for Best Comedy. A long-running Broadway production was also mounted.

Reza's The Unexpected Man, another Hampton translation, which starred Michael Gambon and Eileen Atkins, was staged by the RSC at the Barbican Pit in 1998 before transferring to the West End and on to Broadway.

Director Davies won the Laurence Olivier and Evening Standard awards for Best Director for the Almeida's The Iceman Cometh, starring Kevin Spacey. His other stage credits include Collected Stories (Haymarket), and, at the National, Flight, Chips with Everything, The Crucible and the upcoming production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons, starring Julie Walters.

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