By James Inverne
17 Dec 2003

Anthony Head is set for a busy season. Head, taking a break from fighting vampires and demons in TV’s “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”, is doubling up at London’s Savoy Theatre as a famous pair of pirates.

  Peter Pan, opening Dec. 17, stars Head as Captain Hook. Then, on Jan. 8, the show will be joined in repertory by Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, with Head as the Pirate King. (Between dodging the undead and, now, crocodiles, flying children and policemen, Head must be wistfully remembering his early days as a suave seducer in a famous series of Nescafe coffee adverts.)

While the Pan will stick closely to the original book, the Pirates is pitched closer to musical theatre than either the original D’Oyly Carte style or the rock-stylings of Joseph Papp’s famous production.

Kathryn Evans plays Mrs.Darling and Ruth, with Jack Chissick as Smee and the Major General. Raymond Gubbay produces. Both shows are directed by Steven Dexter, with designs by Francis O’Connor and lighting by Andrew Bridge.

An obscure coincidence for theatre-lovers: the last major production of Peter Pan in London was at the National Theatre, and starred Ian McKellen. And who else but Sir Ian recently went on record saying how much he longed to do a traditional West End Christmas show? Not as a captain though—Sir Ian fancies the role of Widow Twanky, the traditional pantomime dame!

For more information call (0)870 164 8787, or visit www.raymondgubbay.co.uk(http://www.raymondgubbay.co.uk/)