Stoppard's The Real Thing at London's Old Vic Will Star Toby Stephens

By Mark Shenton
07 Dec 2009

Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing is to be revived at London's Old Vic Theatre in a new production that will star Toby Stephens and be directed by Anna Mackmin. It will begin performances April 10, prior to an official opening April 21.

Originally premiered at the West End's Strand Theatre (now the Novello) in 1982 in a production that starred Roger Rees and Felicity Kendal, it subsequently received its Broadway premiere in a different production in 1984 that starred Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close. That production won the 1984 Tony Award for Best Play, as well as Tonys for its two stars. It was subsequently revived in 2000 at London's Donmar Warehouse in a production starring Stephen Dillane and Jennifer Ehle that subsequently transferred both to the West End and to Broadway, where its two stars once again won the Tony Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress in a Play.

In the play, which examines "the complex nature of love, art and reality," according to press materials, Henry (Toby Stephens) is a successful and talented playwright married to Charlotte, an actress playing the lead in his current play about adultery. Her co-star and friend Max, is married to Annie, also an actor. Henry and Annie have fallen in love but is it any more real than the subjects in Henry's play? As the story unravels, Henry discovers that love — "the real thing" — can be unpredictable and painful.

Stephens was most recently seen on the London stage in A Doll's House (at the Donmar Warehouse) and The Country Wife, directed by Jonathan Kent (at the Theatre Royal Haymarket). Other London stage credits include Tartuffe (Playhouse Theatre), Phedre (Almeida and Brooklyn Academy of Music), Betrayal (Donmar Warehouse) and A Streetcar Named Desire (Theatre Royal Haymarket). Work at the RSC includes Hamlet, Measure for Measure, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, Wallenstein, All's Well That Ends Well and the title role in Coriolanus (for which he was awarded the Sir John Gielgud prize for Best Actor and the Ian Charleson Award). On Broadway, he was seen in Lincoln Center Theatre's production of Ring Round the Moon at the Belasco Theatre. His extensive film and TV credits include "Severance," "Orlando," "Die Another Day," "The Great Gatsby," "Jane Eyre," "Cambridge Spies" and "The Camomile Lawn."

Mackmin directed a new production of Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa at the Old Vic in 2009. Other directorial credits include Brian Friel's version of Hedda Gabler (at Dublin's Gate Theatre), new productions of David Eldridge's Under the Blue Sky and David Storey's In Celebration (both at the West End's Duke of York's), and Dying for It (Almeida). At the National, she has directed the triple bill of Burn/Citizenship/Chatroom, and is currently directing Tamsin Oglesby's Really Old, Like Forty Five to open in the Cottesloe in January.

The production is designed by Lez Brotherston, with lighting by Hugh Vanstone and sound by Simon Baker. Further casting is to be announced.

To book tickets, contact the box office on 0844 871 7628, or visit www.oldvictheatre.com