The limited run to Jan. 24, 2004, will officially open on Sept. 26.

Also in the cast are Racheal Stirling, Samantha Bond and Prunella Scales.

Graves is Lord Illingworth in the 1893 Wilde play. At a party on the country estate of Lady Hunstanton (Scales), Illingworth offers a job to young Gerald Arbuthnot, to the horror of Gerald's mother, who is harboring a 20-year-old secret.

Graves was seen on Broadway in Closer and The Elephant Man. He is well known for his appearances in such cinematic costume dramas (often based on the work of E.M. Forster) as "A Room with a View," "Maurice," "Mrs. Dalloway" and "Where Angels Fear to Tread" He co-starred with Harvey Fierstein in the London production of Torch Song Trilogy.

Scales, a London stage and screen veteran, is still probably best known for playing John Cleese's exasperated wife on the television show "Fawlty Towers." Her film appearances include "Howard's End" and "An Ideal Husband." Samantha Bond has been Miss Moneypenny in the last three James Bond films.

Noble is a former director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a position he recently stepped down from after 22 years service. He directed the West End hit Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.