Rita Tushingham
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Tushingham Returns After 30 Years in Monologues

Actress and 1960s icon Rita Tushingham returns to the West End stage after a 30-year absence when she joins the cast of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, transferring back to the West End's Arts Theatre from tonight, 25 June 2002. She's appearing for four weeks only alongside actress Aicha Kossoko and Goodness Gracious Me's Nina Wadia.

Tushingham appeared in three seminal films of the 1960s - A Taste of Honey (her first film, for which she won the Cannes Best Actress award), Dr Zhivago and The Knack. More recently, her film and television credits have included Shadow Play, Out of Depth, Swing, Under the Skin and An Awfully Big Adventure.

Originally seen Off-Off Broadway in 1996, the award-winning Vagina Monologues was first seen in London in 1999 when it ran for a six-week season at the fringe King's Head Theatre. The current West End production has moved back and forth between the New Ambassadors and Arts Theatres since first opening at the former in May 2001.

During its West End run to date, the Olivier-nominated production has featured regularly refreshed three-strong companies, which have included stars such as Ruthie Henshall, Loretta Swit, Jerry Hall, Pam Ferris, Maureen Lipman, Edie Falco, Sophie Okenodo, Mariella Frostrup, Amy Irving, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Dannii Minogue, Kika Markham, Meera Syal, Sophie Dahl, Miriam Margolyes, Suzanne Bertish, Elizabeth McGovern, Nina Wadia, Helen Lederer, Lauren Ward, Lisa Stansfield, Celia Noble, Donna Air, Jackie Clune and Anita Dobson.

The Vagina Monologues, subtitled "An Anthropological Exploration", reveals a series of different women's stories and experiences involving their genitalia. The material was gathered from hundreds of intimate interviews, conducted by Ensler, in which women were asked probing questions such as "If it (your vagina) could talk, what would it say?".

- by Terri Paddock

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