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Reza's Recast Life x 3 Lives Again at Savoy, 1 Oct

Art author Yasmina Reza's time-play domestic comedy Life x 3 is confirmed to return to the West End this autumn, following an extended regional tour (See The Goss, 7 Aug 02). The production opens at the Savoy Theatre for a ten-week season from 1 October 2002 (previews from 23 September).

Henri and Sonia are putting their son to bed when an unexpected knock at the door throws them into disarray. Hubert and Ines have arrived for dinner, a day earlier than expected. Cruel observations about personal intimacies and private longings blend with high comedy as the evening degenerates into three possible scenarios.

Life x 3 (or in French, "Trois Versions de la Vie") had its UK premiere at the National Theatre in December 2000 - with a cast of Mark Rylance, Harriet Walter, Imelda Staunton and Oliver Cotton - before transferring to the West End's Old Vic from February to May 2001.

The current recast production quickly followed, opening at Birmingham Rep in August 2001, before embarking on a UK-wide tour. Once again directed by Matthew Warchus and designed by Mark Thompson - who also teamed up on the French playwright's West End hits of The Unexpected Man and long-runner Art (still running at the Whitehall Theatre) - Life x 3 visits Oxford, Bromley and Guildford before its West End comeback.

The four-hander now stars David Haig (House and Garden, Art, TV's The Thin Blue Line, Belinda Lang (The Things We Do for Love, TV's 2 Point 4 Children), David Yelland (Lady Windermere's Fan) and Serena Evans (The Constant Wife, TV's The Thin Blue Line).

At the Savoy, Life x 3 neatly fills the gap between two D'Oyly Carte Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. The Mikado, starring Jasper Carrott, continues to 14 September, while the company's HMS Pinafore will return for a limited run from 13 December 2002 to 1 March 2003.

- by Terri Paddock

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