Arterton Will Join Friend and Greig in London Little Dog Laughed

By Mark Shenton
25 Sep 2009

Gemma Arterton, best known for her appearance as MI6 agent Strawberry Fields in the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace," will join the previously announced Rupert Friend and Tamsin Greig in the British premiere of Douglas Carter Beane's 2006 play The Little Dog Laughed.



The production will begin performances at the Garrick Theatre Jan. 8, 2010, prior to an official opening Jan. 20, for a season that is booking through April 10, 2010. Young actor Harry Lloyd completes the company.

The play revolves around Mitchell (Friend), a Hollywood film star whose sexuality becomes an issue when he falls for a male hustler (Lloyd), who also already has a girlfriend (Arterton). Mitchell is represented by a powerhouse agent called Diane (Grieg).

Arterton's other screen credits include the title role in the BBC's adaptation of "Tess of the D'Ubervilles" and Head Girl Kelly in the 2007 "St Trinian's" film. She is the face of Avon's Bond Girl 007 fragrance, which launched in October 2008. Onstage, she has appeared as Rosaline in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost at Shakespeare's Globe in 2007.

Lloyd, whose biography states he is the great, great, great grandson of Charles Dickens, was seen in the West End last year in A View from the Bridge at the Duke of York's Theatre. He has appeared on TV in "David Copperfield," "Goodbye Mr. Chips," "Holby City," "Vital Signs," "The Bill" and as Will Scarlett in "Robin Hood."

The production is directed by Jamie Lloyd and produced by Creative Management and Productions.

The play, which was originally produced at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre in 2006 before transferring to Broadway's Cort Theatre, won Julie White the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for creating the role of Diane.

To book tickets, contact the box office at 0844 579 1974 or visit www.nimaxtheatres.com.