23 Oct 2009

Kim Cattrall
photo by Aubrey Reuben

"Sex and the City" star Kim Cattrall and Matthew Macfadyen, who played Mr. Darcy in the 2005 film version of "Pride and Prejudice," are to star in the West End in a new production of Noel Coward's 1930 comedy Private Lives.

It will begin performances Feb. 24, 2010, prior to an official opening March 3, for a run that is booking through May 1. Prior to the West End, it will preview at the out-of-town Theatre Royal in Bath, beginning performances Feb. 10 for a run to Feb. 20.

The production will be directed by Richard Eyre, and produced by Duncan C. Weldon, Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions.

In the play, which was last seen on Broadway in 2002 in the transfer of a West End production that starred Lindsay Duncan and Alan Rickman, Amanda and Elyot have been divorced from each other for five years. Now both are honeymooning with their new spouses in the South of France. When by chance they meet again across adjoining hotel balconies, their insatiable feelings for each other are immediately rekindled. Without a care for scandal, new partners or memories of what drove them apart in the first place, they hurl themselves headlong into love and lust.

The British-born Cattrall has previously appeared in the West End in productions of Whose Life Is It, Anyway? at the Comedy Theatre in 2005 and David Mamet's The Cryptogram at the Donmar Warehouse in 2006. She is best known for playing Samantha Jones in the HBO TV series "Sex and the City" (for which she won a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and five Emmy nominations) and the subsequent 2008 film version. She is currently filming "Sex and the City 2." Other film roles include appearances in the forthcoming Roman Polanski political thriller "The Ghost" and "Meeting Monica Valour", as well as "Porky's," "Police Academy," "Bonfire of the Vanities," "Star Trek VI," John Carpenter's cult classic "Big Trouble in Little China," "Mannequin" and "The Tiger's Tail." She was also seen in the TV movie "My Boy Jack," opposite Daniel Radcliffe. She has also written several books, including "Sexual Intelligence" which was a best seller, "Being a Girl: Navigating the Ups and Downs of Teenage Life," and "Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm," a New York Times best seller.

Macfadyen last appeared on stage in The Pain and the Itch at the Royal Court in 2007, and previously played Prince Hal in the National Theatre's production of Henry IV in 2005. He is also known for his role as Tom Quinn in the BBC TV series "Spooks," and is soon to appear as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Russell Crowe's forthcoming film "Robin Hood."

Richard Eyre was previously director of the National Theatre from 1988 to 1997. He is currently represented on Broadway by his co-direction of Mary Poppins, and he next directs Bizet's Carmen at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, beginning performances Dec. 31. He has won five Olivier Awards, four Evening Standard Awards, three Critics' Circle Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild. His has also directed the films "The Ploughman's Lunch," "Iris," "Stage Beauty" and "Notes on a Scandal."

To book tickets for the Bath Theatre Royal season, which go on general sale from Dec. 7, contact the box office on 01225 448844, or visit www.theatreroyal.org.uk. To book tickets for the West End run at the Vaudeville Theatre, contact the box office on 01225 448844, or visit www.nimaxtheatres.com