Steven Berkoff will star as Saddam Hussein in the forthcoming world premiere of Dinner With Saddam at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
The prolific actor, writer and director, who is well known for portraying some of film and TV’s most notorious baddies, adds the late Iraqi president to a list of previous villainous roles that includes General Orlov in Octopussy and Adolf Hitler in the TV mini-series War And Remembrance.
Making his Menier Chocolate Factory debut, Berkoff returns to the London stage for the first time since his performance in 2013’s Religion And Anarchy at the Jermyn Street Theatre.
He is joined in the cast by another newly announced cast member, EastEnders and Citizen Khan star Shobu Kapoor, whose theatre credits include What Fatima Did… at the Hampstead Theatre and Lotus Beauty at the Gate Theatre.
The duo joins a quartet of previously announced performers – Sanjeev Bhaskar, Nathan Amzi, Ilan Goodman and Rebecca Grant – who will appear alongside them in Anthony Horowitz’s play this autumn.
Directed by Lindsay Posner, Dinner With Saddam imagines what would happen if the Iraqi dictator were to turn up on your doorstep and announce he’s staying for dinner. Political and personal issues are top of the menu but behind the kitchen door something far more sinister is cooking.
Playing from 10 September to 14 November, the production will open at the London Bridge venue following the current run of What’s It All About? Bacharach Reimagined, which closes on 5 September.