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Play What Returns to West End Pre-Broadway, 30 Oct

The Right Size's multi award-winning homage to comedians Morecambe and Wise, The Play What I Wrote, will return to the West End this autumn ahead of a Broadway transfer in March 2003. Producers today confirmed to Whatsonstage.com that the hit comedy, which finished its sell-out six-month run at Wyndham's Theatre this past Saturday 5 May 2002, will reopen at the same venue for another limited season from 30 October 2002 to 4 January 2003.

The new West End engagement will follow a brief UK regional tour, encompassing some five stops, from late September. Exact tour stops and dates are expected to be confirmed in the next few weeks. Booking for the new West End run has already opened.

In The Play What I Wrote, comedy duo Sean Foley and Hamish McColl (who co-wrote the comedy with long-time Morecambe and Wide collaborator Eddie Braben) are approached to stage a tribute to legendary comedians Morecambe and Wise, but Foley is only tricked into the project when McColl convinces him that they'll actually be premiering his new self-penned drama A Tight Squeeze for the Scarlet Pimple. The play-within-a-play chaotically unfolds with the help of a nightly "surprise celebrity guest".

That slot has been filled, according to an unpublished rota system, by a long list of eager celebrities, including Ralph Fiennes, Richard Wilson, Ewan McGregor, Jerry Hall, Dawn French, Minnie Driver and Kenneth Branagh, who has also directed the production.

Aside from celebrity plaudits, The Play What I Wrote's accolades include this year's Laurence Olivier Awards for both Best New Comedy and Best Supporting Actor (for Toby Jones) as well as the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Ensemble Performance.

The Play What I Wrote first opened at Wyndham's Theatre on 5 November 2001, following previews from 22 October and a regional tryout at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre. Wyndham's is about to play host to another sell-out production - Madonna's West End debut Up for Grabs, which has a limited (and long ago, sold out) run from 13 May to 13 July 2002.

- by Terri Paddock

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