Kean, the Jean-Paul Sartre drama in which Anthony Sher plays 19th century classical actor Edmund Kean, is closing at the Apollo on 14 July, over a month earlier than planned. The play had been booking until 18 August after opening in the West End on 30 May following a national tour.
Based on an earlier play by Alexandre Dumas, Sartre’s comedy shows Kean – widely admired for his Shakespearean performances on the Drury Lane stage including Othello, King Lear and Richard III – as a man who cannot separate himself from his roles. A pretender of the highest order, with a private life like a public performance, Kean has an appetite for women and alcohol that ultimately sends him to an early demise, while the high society figures he performs in front of watch on.
The production is directed by Adrian Noble and also stars Alex Avery, Sam Kelly, Jane Murphy and Joanne Pearce.
The next production scheduled for the Apollo on Shaftesbury Avenue is a short run of ‘dancical’ Satisfaction. Created by Danish choreographer Peter Schaufuss, this is a dance show set to the back catalogue of The Rolling Stones. Satisfaction runs from 28 August-8 September.CB