Fresh from a 2016 UK Tour, Edward Fox is to return to the West End in the celebrated one-man play exploring the life and work of John Betjeman, Sand In The Sandwiches, for a strictly limited London run.
A journey through memory and verse, the play collates the work of the twentieth century’s most treasured poet. Written by Hugh Whitemore and directed by Gareth Armstrong, it will visit Northampton before its London premiere at Theatre Royal Haymarket between Tuesday 30 May and Saturday 3 June, followed by an extended UK tour visiting Cambridge, Malvern, Woking, Brighton and Bath.
Edward Fox said “It is lovely to be returning to one of the great theatres of the world and to the role of John Betjeman, even now at the age of 80. All of us involved are working to magnify the voice of one of the greatest minds in England. Betjeman once said that ‘poetry is life’, and I agree. You can’t live without it.”
Sand In The Sandwiches celebrates a nation’s favourite poet; a man famous not only for light verse and laughter, but for his passions, his sense of purpose and his unforgettable poetry. Through boyhood, his adolescence, to life as Britain’s Poet Laureate, Sand In The Sandwiches presents a hugely entertaining insight into the world of this much-loved irreverent writer. Edward stars in the new one-man play, bringing Betjeman’s poetry and vivacious personality to life.
Edward Fox’s distinguished career counts iconic British films including the Oscar winning Ghandi, The Day Of The Jackal, A Bridge Too Far, Oh! What A Lovely War, The Dresser, The Go-Between and James Bond’s Never Say Never Again. His stage credits include: The Audience, Four Quartets, Hamlet and many more. His film credits have won him three BAFTA Awards and in 2003 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to stage and cinema.
Hugh Whitemore, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, is an award-winning writer whose work spans stage and screen, with theatre credits including Pack Of Lies and The Last Cigarette, and over 70 television credits. Director Gareth Armstrong specialises in solo performance and has helped to create a dozen such theatre pieces, including Hugh Whitemore’s My Darling Clemmie starring Rohan McCulloch as Winston Churchill’s wife.
The week-long slot is available at the theatre due to a pre-contractual, prior engagement, which means that Damian Lewis is unavailable to perform in Edward Albee’s The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? The producers took the decision to suspend the run of The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? for that week. The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? will recommence performances on 5th June.
You can book your tickets to Sand In The Sandwiches’ limited London run through us here.