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Vagina Closes & Lobby Opens at New Ambassadors

Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues will close at the New Ambassadors Theatre on 22 June 2002, making way for the West End transfer for the UK premiere production of Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, currently at the Donmar Warehouse as part of the theatre's American Imports season. Lobby Hero finishes its initial month-long season at the Donmar Warehouse this Saturday, 4 May, and reopens at the New Ambassadors on 26 June for eight weeks only to 17 August.

Set in the foyer to a New York apartment building, Lobby Hero follows Jeff, a luckless young doorman, who unwittingly becomes embroiled in a murder investigation and ends up falling for rookie cop, Dawn.

The original Donmar cast of David Tennant, Charlotte Randle, Gary McDonald and Dominic Rowan will reprise their roles for the play's West End season. Lobby Hero is directed by Mark Brokaw and designed by Rob Jones, with lighting by Rick Fisher.

Tennant's numerous stage credits include Comedians (Oxford Stage Company), King Lear (Royal Exchange), Vassa (Almeida at the Albery), the double bill of The Real Inspector Hound and Black Comedy (a Donmar Warehouse production at the Comedy) and, for the RSC, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It and The Herbal Bed.

Randle has recently been seen on stage in The Man Who Had All the Luck (Sheffield Crucible), Romeo and Juliet (National), Marat/Sade (National), The Taming of the Shrew (RSC) and The Dispute (RSC). On TV, she's played Teresa Lawless on Eastenders, while her film credits include The Honest Courtesan.

Lonergan is also currently represented in the West End by the UK premiere production of his first play, This Is Our Youth, which, from next week will star Hollywood's Matt Damon, Casey Affleck and Summer Phoenix.

The Vagina Monologues, featuring a regularly refreshed trio of female celebrities, has transferred back and forth between the New Ambassadors and the Arts Theatres since it first opened in the West End in May 2001. A spokesperson for the show said it was considering another venue move at the conclusion of its current booking period to 22 June at the New Ambassadors, though plans have not yet been confirmed.

Now running concurrently with The Vagina Monologues at the New Ambassadors, Marc Salem's Mind Games will continue its limited season until 10 June 2002.

- by Terri Paddock

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