La Bête is a comic tour de force about Elomire (David Hyde Pierce), a high-minded classical dramatist who loves only the theatre and Valere (Mark Rylance), a low-brow street clown who loves only himself. When the fickle princess (Joanna Lumley) decides she has grown weary of Elomire’s royal theatre troupe, he and Valere are left fighting for survival as art squares off with ego in a literary showdown for the ages.

Rylance, who leads the cast of La Bête, is the former Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe who has recently enjoyed a highly-acclaimed couple of years on the stage. His role in hit new play Jerusalem has seen him win a clutch of awards, he was heralded for his performance as Hamm in Beckett’s Endgame and he won a Tony Award for his performance in Boeing Boeing.

Hyde Pierce makes his West End stage debut in the comedy La Bête. The American actor is probably best known for playing Dr Niles Crane in long-running sitcom Frasier, though his Broadway stage credits include Monty Python’s Spamalot and a Tony Award-winning performance in Curtains.

La Bête’s leading lady Lumley has a host of TV credits to her name from The New Avengers’s Purdy to Absolutely Fabulous’s Patsy, and has graced stages across the country.

Following its London run, La Bête will transfer to Broadway.

For more about La Bête at the Comedy theatre read the First Night Feature.