Evidence of Sheen’s West End Return???

It’s not often that the South Wales Evening Post serves up a West End exclusive, but it ran a story over the weekend revealing that Welsh actor Michael Sheen is set to make a return to the London stage early next year.

According to the paper, Sheen will play the role of miserable middle-aged lawyer William Maitland in a West End revival of John Osborne’s Inadmissible Evidence, which examines the various frustrations and perceived failings of the Maitland’s life.

Although no venue is named, the “four month run” will apparently commence in February next year. If confirmed, it will mark Sheen’s first appearance on a West End stage since Frost/Nixon in 2006 (See News, 6 Oct 2006).

Inadmissible Evidence was first staged in London in 1964, with Nicol Williamson as Maitland. Williamson won a Tony award for his performance when it transferred to Broadway and also starred in the subsequent 1968 film version alongside Eileen Atkins. Although many critics believe it to be one of Osborne’s finest plays, it has rarely been revived; it’s last major London outing was at the National Theatre in 1993.