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Spacey, Shields, Bernal Star in Old Vic 24 Hour Plays June 19

By: Jun. 07, 2005
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Kevin Spacey, Brooke Shields and Gael Garcia Bernal are just some of the stars who have signed on to appear in the Old Vic's 24 Hour Plays on June 19th.

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Spacey, the artistic director of the Old Vic, will host the event while Joseph Fiennes, Michael Sheen, Nick Moran, James Nesbitt, Victoria Hamilton, Miriam Margolyes, Juliet Stevenson, Jemma Redgrave, Dominic West, Carke Peters, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Rufus Sewell, Greg Wise, Roy Williams, Rebecca Lenkiewicz and David Grindley are also lined up. 

"The annual event turns all the conventional rules for putting together a production on their head. A group of celebrated theatre professionals will join together to write, rehearse and perform six short plays within a 24-hour period. The intense creativity, it is hoped, will produce special pieces of drama. Whether it does or not, the performances will be followed by another mainstay of the creative process,  an after-show party at the theatre," states a press release.

In the past three years since the event's inception, Jim Broadbent, Brian Cox, Emilia Fox, Sophie Okonedo and Rosamund Pike have taken part in the frenzied evening of theatre. 

Spacey is currently starring as CK Dexter Haven in the Old Vic production of Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story.  He will take a temporary leave of absence from the show beginning on June 20th to shoot Superman Returns, in which he plays Lex Luthor.  Spacey is a theatre veteran who was nominated as Best Actor in a Play for his performance in the 1999 revival of O'Neill's Iceman Cometh; he won Best Featured Actor in a Play for 1991's Lost in Yonkers. Other Broadway credits include Long Day's Journey Into Night, the original production of Hurlyburly (in which he was a replacement) and Ghosts. He is a two-time Academy Award winner for 1995's The Usual Suspects and 1999's American Beauty.

Shields, who got her start in modelling and film, has been a Broadway presence in recent years--getting her feet wet as Rizzo in Grease, as Sally in Cabaret, and as Donna Murphy's successor in Wonderful Town, for which she received glowing reviews.  On April 26th, the statuesque Shields opened as Roxie Hart in the West End production of Chicago.  On film, she has appeared in Pretty Baby, Blue Lagoon and The Bachelor, as well as having starred on the TV series "Suddenly Susan" for several years.

Bernal is the Latin heartthrob and acclaimed actor who shot to fame in the 2001 film Y Tu Mama Tambien.  Since then, he has appeared in The Crime of Padre Amaro, The Motorcycle Diaries (as young Che Guevara) and Almodovar's Bad Education, among others.  He is currently starring in a production of Garcia Lorca's tragedy Blood Wedding at the Almeida Theatre.

Tickets for the performance range from £50 to £500 for the VIP package. Call (0)20 7620 0558, or visit www.oldvic.com/24hour/gala for more information.



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