Friend will star as Mitchell, a Hollywood film star actor whose sexuality becomes an issue when he falls for a male hustler. His powerhouse agent Diane will be played by Olivier Award-winning actress Tamsin Greig (which she won for her appearance as Beatrice in an RSC production of Much Ado About Nothing). The production will be 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.
Friend is best known for his appearances in such films as "The Ligertine," "Pride and Prejudice," "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont," "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" and Cheri; off screen, he also makes headlines for dating Keira Knightley, whom he met during the filming of "Pride and Prejudice."
Greig, who was last seen on the London stage in the original West End production of Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage at the Gielgud Theatre in 2008, playing the wife of Ralph Fiennes, is best known for her long-running role in the BBC Radio series "The Archers," in which she plays Debbie Aldridge, and for her comic roles in such series as "Green Wing," winning the Best Comedy Performance in the 2005 Royal Television Society Awards, and "Love Soup."
Lloyd is associate director of the Donmar Warehouse, where he directed Piaf in 2008 that subsequently transferred to the West End's Vaudeville Theatre. He also directed the Pinter double bill The Lover and The Collection at the Comedy Theatre in 2008, and Alexi Kaye Campbell's The Pride at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in November 2008. Further details are yet to be announced.