A Day in the Death of Joe Egg transfer to Comedy 5th Dec starring Eddie Izzard

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg transfer to Comedy 5th Dec starring Eddie Izzard

Peter Nichol's A Day in the Death of Joe Egg will transfer to the Comedy Theatre, when its run finishes at the New Ambassadors theatre on 24th Nov 01.

The show will open on 11th Dec 01, following previews from 5th Dec 01, and taking bookings to 26th Jan 02 at the Comedy Theatre. Eddie Izzard will join the cast to play, Bri, replacing Clive Owen who has to undertake a film project.

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg was first produced at the Citizen's Theatre, Glasgow in May 1967 and subsequently transferred to London, where it won the Evening Standard Drama Award for Best Play. The 1971 award-winning film adaptation, directed by Peter Medak, starred Alan Bates, Janet Suzman and Peter Bowles. The play enjoyed a New York run in 1985, winning the Tony Award for Best Revival.

The drama concerns Bri and Sheila, and their severely mentally handicapped child (nicknamed Joe Egg) aged 10. The parents invent conversations and personality traits for the child, even though it seems unable to communicate in any way itself. As Bri and Sheila begin to fabricate scenarios, their marriage comes under increasing strain.

Eddie Izzard ('Bri') was last seen in the West End in the Sir Peter Hall production of "Lenny". Other theatre credits include "Edward II", "900 Oneonta" and "The Cryptogram". He has also appeared in several films, most recently in "The Cat's Meow", which has a general release this month.

Victoria Hamilton ('Sheila') has just finished filming Lewis Gilbert's "Memory of Water" with Julie Walters, Patricia Hodge and John Hannah, which has a release date of 2002. TV work includes "Baby Father" recently shown on BBC2, "The Savages" and "Victoria and Albert". Her theatre credits include "As You Like It" for which she won the 2000 Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, "Summerfolk" at the National Theatre, and "The Doctor's Dilemma" at The Almeida. Victoria was the recipient of the 1996 Critics Circle Award for Best Newcomer and the 1996 Ian Charleson Best Newcomer Award.

Prunella Scales ('Grace'), has been performing on stage and screen since 1951 and is known to TV audiences world-wide as 'Sybil Fawlty' in the comedy "Fawlty Towers". Her film work includes "The Boys From Brazil" and "Howard's End".

The cast also includes John Warnaby as 'Freddie' and Robin Weaver as 'Pam'.

It is directed by Laurence Boswell, designed by Es Devlin with lighting by Adam Silverman .