Peter Hall’s production of Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce, which played last year at the Rose theatre, Kingston, will come to the Duke of York’s theatre on 24 March (press night 30 March) for a 14 week season.
Sara Crowe, Rachel Pickup, Jenny Seagrove, Daniel Betts, David Horovitch, Orlando Seale, Tony Gardner and Finty Williams will star in Ayckbourn’s 1975 comedy about four couples, three bedrooms, two celebrations, one blazing row and an illicit kiss (or two).
Bedroom Farce received its London premiere at the National Theatre in 1977, co-directed by Ayckbourn and Hall. Such was its success that it transferred to the West End in 1978 and was staged on Broadway the following year. Previous to this production, Bedroom Farce was last staged in London in 2002, with a cast that included Richard Briers and June Whitfield.
New to Hall’s production are Horovitch, Seagrove and Crowe, who replace Nicholas Le Provost, Jane Asher and Lucy Briers in this West End transfer. Horovitch and Seagrove are no stranger to Ayckbourn’s work, having played a married couple in Absurd Person Singular in the West End in 2007. Horovitch’s other recent stage credits include Life Is A Dream at the Donmar Warehouse and Taking Sides and Collaboration at the Duchess theatre. Seagrove, who is well known for her role in screen drama Judge John Deed, is a frequent face on the West End stage in productions including The Letter, The Night Of The Iguana and, most recently, A Daughter’s A Daughter.
Crowe, recognisable for her role in film Four Weddings And A Funeral, was most recently on stage in Calendar Girls at the Noël Coward theatre last year. Her stage pedigree includes winning a 1991 Laurence Olivier Award for her role in Private Lives, which she followed up two years later with a further nomination for Best Comedy Performance for Hay Fever.
The Duke of York’s theatre is currently dark after the closure of Twelfth Night at the end of February.
CB