Julia Stiles plays the student who accuses her tutor, played by fellow American film actor Aaron Eckhart, of sexual impropriety. During previews, there have already been mid-show shouts of support for the tutor.

Lindsay Posner directs the show. Posner also directed 2003’s financially successful production of Mamet’s Sexual Perversity In Chicago, which starred Minnie Driver, Hank Azaria, Kelly Reilly and Matthew Perry. Co producing are Edward Snape, and Out Of The Blue, the production company that recently presented Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth with rolling casts of young movie stars.

Stiles, 22, is one of the young movie actresses being hyped as a big star for the future. Soon to appear in “The Bourne Supremacy,” she previously starred in its prequel “The Bourne Identity,” as well as Shakespeare movie adaptations “Ten Things I Hate About You” (The Taming of the Shrew), “O” (Othello) and “Hamlet.” She started her career on stage at the age of 12, with stints at New York’s La Mama Theatre and Kitchen Theatre. And, in 2002, Teen People named her one of their “25 Hottest Stars Under 25.” Eckhart is also building his own impressive film career, having co-starred with Julia Roberts in “Aaron Brockovich,” with Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman in “Paycheck,” and he’s set to play opposite Sandra Bullock and Ralph Fiennes in the forthcoming Neil LaBute movie “Vapor.”

The first London production of Oleanna starred David Suchet and Lia Williams. Rebecca Pidgeon and William H. Macy did it Off-Broadway, while the movie version featured Macy and Debra Eisenstadt.

For information or tickets, call the Garrick on (0)870 890 1104.