Matthew Fox and Olivia Williams are to be directed by Neil LaBute in his new play In A Forest, Dark And Deep at the Vaudeville theatre from 3 March (press night 14 March).
LaBute and his stars were on hand at a press launch today to speak about the new two-hander which the writer described as a mix of family drama, mystery and thriller.
In A Forest, Dark And Deep centres on brother and sister Bobby (Fox) and Betty (Williams), who meet to clear out Betty’s cabin in the woods. But in this cabin of lies nothing is as it seems and the truth refuses to be packed away.
LaBute said the play touched on issues including class, the struggle between male and female, the “average dysfunction” of families and “the betrayal of truth and how difficult it is for some people to live without the mask of lies.”
“It was a treat to write,” said LaBute, adding that it was “equally wonderful to get the chance to come out and work with people” by directing the play.
Fox, who makes his UK stage debut in the play, is best known for his roles in long-running US television series Party Of Five and Lost. Though he has previously appeared on stage in Los Angeles and, at the beginning of his career, in New York, this is a relatively rare stage outing for the actor, who estimated he had filmed around 275 hours of television over his two six-year stints in Party Of Five and Lost.
Fox said his appearance on a West End stage had “always been a dream of mine” but he had not made a conscious decision to return to theatre. “I want to get involved in stories that speak to me and this one happened to be a play and in the West End of London,” he said.
Fox is joined in the two-hander by Williams who, though a frequent face on subsidised stages in London, makes her commercial West End debut with this production. Williams’s many credits include the National Theatre productions of Love’s Labour’s Lost and Happy Now?, Hotel In Amsterdam at the Donmar Warehouse and many productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company. On screen she has been seen in films The Ghost Writer, An Education and The Sixth Sense.
American playwright LaBute has seen many of his plays produced in London, including Bash, The Shape Of Things, Fat Pig, This Is How It Goes, In A Dark Dark House and Some Girl(s). His film credits include Death At A Funeral, Nurse Betty and the film of his own play In The Company Of Men.
In A Forest, Dark And Deep will have a limited season to 4 June. It plays at the Vaudeville theatre following An Ideal Husband, which ends its run on 19 February.
CB