CAST ANNOUNCED FOR "WHAT THE BUTLER SAW" AT THE VAUDEVILLE THEATRE

Completing the cast will be Jason Thorpe and Nick Hendrix. The production will be directed by Sean Foley. Omid Djalili said, "The team assembled for this production is really exciting. I'm looking forward to what promises to be a challenging and hugely enjoyable next few months."

When psychoanalyst Dr Prentice, played by Tim McInnerny, instructs his new secretary (Georgia Moffett) to undress, little does he expect to be interrupted by his wife (Samantha Bond), her blackmailing lover (Nick Hendrix), a meddling government inspector (Omid Djalili) and an inquisitive policeman (Jason Thorpe). But hiding a naked woman is the least of his worries, as libidos run riot, identities are swapped and social decorum is buried.

Omid Djalili is an award-winning British-Iranian actor/comedian. Not only acclaimed as one of Britain's funniest stand-up comedians, he has also featured in films including The Mummy, Gladiator, Spy Game, Mean Machine, Modigliani, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Casanova, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, The Infidel and Sex and the City 2. On stage, he previously played the role of Fagin in the West End production of Oliver!.

Tim McInnerny is probably best known as Lord Percy and Captain Darling in four series of Blackadder. His stage roles have included Hamlet (National Theatre), Frank N Furter (West End) and Iago and Judge Brack (The Globe). Tim’s many films include Notting Hill, 101 Dalmatians and 102 Dalmatians, Casanova, Severance and Johnny English Reborn.

Samantha Bond’s recent theatre appearances include the King James Readings at the National Theatre, An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville, Arcadia at the Duke of York’s and Donkeys’ Years at the Comedy. On film, she is best known as Miss Moneypenny in several of the James Bond films. On television, she plays Lady Rosamund Painswick in Downton Abbey and Angela in Outnumbered.

Georgia Moffett’s television roles include Jenny in Doctor Who, Emma in White Van Man and Lady Vivian in Merlin. On stage, she has appeared in Total Eclipse at the Chocolate Factory and Getting Through at the Royal Court.

Jason Thorpe appeared as Desmond Lovely and Alan Dick in BBC Four's hit comedy Holy Flying Circus and as Cavalletto in the 2008 BBC dramatisation of Dickens’s Little Dorrit. His recent theatre work includes Absurd Person Singular at the Leicester Curve, Terry Pratchett’s Nation at the National Theatre and Hound of the Baskervilles in the West End.

Nick Hendrix graduated from RADA in 2010 and What The Butler Saw marks his West End debut, having previously appeared in the national tour of Journey’s End. On film, he has appeared in Captain America and, on television, in Inspector George Gently.

Sean Foley directed the current West End hit production, The Ladykillers. He co-founded The Right Size, creating over ten original comedies for the theatre, including the Olivier Award-winning The Play What I Wrote. Last year, he directed Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon in his own adaptation of Francis Veber’s The Painkiller at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. What The Butler Saw will be designed by Alice Power, with lighting by Johanna Town, composition and sound by Ben and Max Ringham, and casting by Anne Vosser.

What The Butler Saw will be produced in London by MJE Productions, co-producers of the West End and Broadway musical Ghost and producers of the critically acclaimed 2009 production of Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane starring Imelda Staunton and Mathew Horne.

Book What The Butler Saw tickets online now.

[posted 16/03/2012]