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Pryce Is Right for West End Glengarry with Gillen

As previously tipped (See The Goss, 5 Dec 2006) Jonathan Pryce, pictured, will star in a major revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross in the West End in October. Opening at the Apollo Theatre on 10 October 2007, following previews from 27 September, Pryce will be joined by Aidan Gillen in the 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. Pryce will take on the role of Shelly Levene to Gillen's Ricky Roma.

Though full casting is still to be confirmed, the production will be directed by James McDonald, with designs by Anthony Ward and lighting by Howard Harrison. The hard-hitting drama, about the cut and thrust of highly competitive real estate salesmen, received its world premiere in 1983 at the National Theatre.

Double Tony Award-winner Pryce was last seen in the West End in Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? . His other recent London stage credits include A Reckoning and My Fair Lady, and in 2006, he starred on Broadway in the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He has previously appeared in the 1992 film version of Glengarry Glen Ross, in which he played James Lingk.

Gillen, who shot to fame in the TV series Queer As Folk, has an extensive theatre CV, with credits including Ariel in The Tempest and the title role in Chekhov’s Platonov, both at the Almeida Theatre, and co-starring in Frank McGuinness’ Middle East hostage drama Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me at the New Ambassadors. On Broadway, he was cast with Patrick Stewart and Kyle MacLachlan in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker, which earned him a 2004 Tony Award Nomination. Earlier this year he starred in the Gate Theatre Dublin’s production of Mamet’s American Buffalo.

Mamet’s other plays include Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Speed-the-Plow and Oleanna. He has also written numerous screenplays and essays and was once described as “the finest American playwright of his generation”. A new production of Speed-the-Plow will open at the Old Vic Theatre in January 2008, starring Kevin Spacey.

Glengarry Glen Ross will be produced in the West End by Mark Rubenstein Limited. Full casting details will be announced in the near future.

- by Roger Foss

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