Whose Life Marks Sexy Cattrall's West End DebutDate: 23 July 2004
Kim Cattrall (pictured) will make her West End and British theatre debut next year playing a paraplegic in an updated version of Brian Clark’s 1978 play Whose Life Is It Anyway?. The new production, directed by Sir Peter Hall, will open at the Duke of York’s Theatre on 25 January 2005 (previews from 7 January) and will continue for a limited 16 weeks until 30 April.
After a road accident, an intelligently independent and sexy sculptor, now forced to rely on others, fights to reclaim the crucial decisions about her own life and death.
Originally produced for television, Whose Life Is It Anyway? had its stage premiere at London’s Mermaid Theatre in 1978, when Tom Conti starred as the artist, Ken Harrison. The award-winning production transferred to the West End. Clark rewrote the play for a female lead and Mary Tyler Moore won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Claire Harrison in the 1979 Broadway production. The 1981 Hollywood film starred Richard Dreyfuss as Harrison.
Clark has newly updated the play to take into account medical advances over the past 30 years. In an age when doctors can keep patients alive irrespective of quality of life, the question of freedom of choice remains highly topical.
Though born in Liverpool and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), Cattrall is best known for her work Stateside, particularly her role as sexy publicist Samantha Jones in the now-completed American TV series Sex and the City. She has also appeared in numerous films (including Police Academy and its sequels) and television series. Her US theatre credits include A View from the Bridge, Three Sisters, Miss Julie, Wild Honey and The Misanthrope.
Cattrall was previously scheduled to make her West End debut opposite Judi Dench in Hall’s 2001 production of The Royal Family at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, but had to withdraw because of conflicts with filming for Sex and the City and a promotional book tour (See News, 5 Jul 2001).
Whose Life Is It Anyway? is produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions and Mark Rubinstein. No further casting has yet been announced.
Currently at the Duke of York’s, the New York transfer of Dirty Blonde, which was first seen in the UK at Leeds’ West Yorkshire Playhouse, is booking up to 28 August 2004. It opened on 16 June 2004 (previews from 8 June).
- by Terri Paddock
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