"BREATH OF LIFE" EXTENDS AGAIN TO 1 MAR 03

"BREATH OF LIFE" EXTENDS AGAIN TO 1 MAR 03

The Breath of Life starring Judi Dench & Maggie Smith, has beeen extended by a further 4 weeks to 1 March 2003

The production opened with a record-breaking advance for a straight play of over £2 million, and has played to capacity since its first performance in Oct 02.

David Hare's new play received good notices from the popular press: THE GUARDIAN says, "Smoothly written and superbly performed." THE TIMES says, "Elegantly, shrewdly and wittily written...beautifully played by the dames; but the conclusion is deliberately unclear." BBC ONLINE says, "Evenings at the theatre do not come much richer, wiser or neater.." THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "Two great dames rise magnificently to the occasion." THE DAILY MAIL says, "This is Maggie Smith's evening" And goes on to say, "Disappointingly, it does not ignite a theatrical 'head-to-head' in the way one was expecting."

Directed by Howard Davies and designed by William Dudley, it is a tale of two women whose lives are interwoven in ways neither of them yet understand. Madeleine Palmer (MAGGIE SMITH) is a retired curator, living alone on the Isle of Wight. One day to her door comes Angela Beale (JUDI DENCH), a popular novelist whom she has met only once before. The progress of a single night comes to echo the hidden course of their lives.