Bunny boiling and psychotic lovers will arrive in the West End next year when Trevor Nunn returns to the Theatre Royal Haymarket to direct the world stage premiere of Fatal Attraction in a new adaptation penned by the hit film’s original writer James Dearden.
The cult psychological thriller won audiences over in 1987 when Michael Douglas and Glenn Close immortalised what is surely one of the most destructive couplings in film history. Nunn will attempt to replicate this terrifying, electrically charged relationship on stage from 11 March (press night 25 March) for a limited season until 21 June.
A story of obsession and revenge, Fatal Attraction explores how a chance meeting in a bar soon turns into a living nightmare. For New York lawyer Dan Gallagher, a one weekend-stand with the beautiful Alex Forrest turns ugly when his presumption that he can just walk away back into the arms of his family is ripped apart when Alex proves herself to be a woman who refuses to be ignored.
Nunn, a former Royal Shakespeare Company Artistic Director and the guiding hand behind global hits including Cats and Les Misérables, is no stranger to Fatal Attraction’s grand West End venue having programmed a year of work at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 2011 to 2012, a season that included the Olivier Award-winning Flare Path and the Ralph Fiennes-led The Tempest.
The three-time Olivier Award winner’s numerous other theatrical credits include musicals Gone With The Wind, A Little Night Music and Aspects Of Love, and West End hit dramas Birdsong, King Lear and The Seagull.
The director’s work can currently be seen at the St James theatre where his production of Scenes From A Marriage is playing. The show had been due to open to the press this week, but was forced to delay its opening due to leading man Mark Bazeley’s ill health.
Casting for Fatal Attraction’s stage premiere, including who will step into Close and Douglas’ legendary shoes, is to be announced soon.