David Suchet will star as Lady Bracknell in a new production of The Importance Of Being Earnest when it opens in the West End next summer.
Directed by former Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company Adrian Noble, Oscar Wilde’s much-loved comedy will play from 24 June (press night 1 July) at a West End venue that is still to be announced.
The seven-time Olivier Award nominee, who is best known for his performance as Belgian detective Poirot in the hit ITV series of the same name, follows in the footsteps of fellow actors Geoffrey Rush and Brian Bedford, who have both donned ladies’ attire to play Wilde’s ruthless and unforgettable social climber.
Returning to the London stage for the first time since his acclaimed performance in 2012’s Olivier Award-winning revival of Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Suchet is a veteran of the West End stage, with other recent credits including All My Sons at the Apollo Theatre, The Last Confession at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Complicit at the Old Vic.
Brimming with witty observations of the social pretensions in Victorian society, Wilde’s comedy tells of the hilarious misadventures of bachelors John Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff as they try to court the attentions of the desirable Gwendolyn Fairfax and Cecily Cardew.
The Importance Of Being Earnest opens in the West End 12 months after Lucy Bailey’s production of Wilde’s comic farce starring Nigel Havers and Siân Phillips, which opens at the Harold Pinter Theatre in June. Full casting for the Suchet-led production is still to be announced.