Richard Eyre’s production of The Last Cigarette transfers from Chichester Festival Theatre to Trafalgar Studios.

Based on the critically acclaimed diaries of late playwright Simon Gray – Fat Chance, Enter A Fox, The Smoking Diaries and Coda – The Last Cigarette was completed just before Gray’s death from cancer last year and shows the playwright facing life – and death – with unflinching courage and defiant humanity. Sardonic, humane, intelligent and witty, The Last Cigarette shows that even when writing about his own mortality, Gray did not lose his prodigious talent to entertain. 

Gray’s many plays include Butley, Otherwise Engaged, Quatermaine’s Terms, Hidden Laughter and The Common Pursuit. Hugh Whitemore, who co-adapted Gray’s diaries for the stage, has written the plays Stevie, Pack Of Lies, Breaking The Code and A Letter Of Resignation. 

The Last Cigarette stars Felicity Kendal, Nicholas Le Prevost and Jasper Britton, all of whom perform as Simon Gray in the show. Since starring in classic sitcom The Good Life, Kendal has become one of the UK’s best loved actresses, with numerous stage appearences in productions including The Vortex, Amy’s View, Arcadia, Humble Boy and Hidden Laughter. Le Prevost’s recent stage credits include Uncle Vanya, The Wild Duck and My Fair Lady, while Britton has been ubiquitous on the London stage of late, starring in Fram, Oedipus, Private Lives, Plague Over England and Little Shop Of Horrors.

They are directed in The Last Cigarette by Richard Eyre, the hugely experienced former Artistic Director of the National Theatre whose recent work includes Hedda Gabler and Mary Poppins, plus the films Notes On A Scandal, Iris and Stage Beauty.

For more about The Last Cigarette at the Trafalgar Studio 1, read the First Night Feature.