DEAR LUPIN with James & Jack Fox Begins Next Month at Theatre Royal Windsor

Father and son James Fox and Jack Fox star in this brand new stage adaptation of the best-selling Sunday Times Humour Book of the Year Dear Lupin, Letters to a Wayward Son in which renowned journalist and author Roger Mortimer's brilliantly hilarious, often touching and always generous letters to his unruly son Charlie are now vividly brought to life.

"By turns, affectionate, touching and wry, Dear Lupin brims with a father's love for his son. An absolute delight" Daily Mail on Dear Lupin, Letters to a Wayward Son

Adapted by celebrated writer and journalist, Michael Simkins, this endearing new comedy reveals fresh, previously unknown stories of Charlie's life and his relationship with his father.

"Brilliantly written, they could offer a money back guarantee if you don't laugh" Jeremy Paxman for the Guardian on Dear Lupin, Letters to a Wayward Son

The production opens at the Theatre Royal Windsor (14 - 18 April), before touring to Theatre Royal, Bath (20 - 25 April), Theatre Royal, Norwich (27 April - 2 May), Cambridge Arts Theatre (4 - 9 May),

The Festival Theatre, Malvern Theatres (11 - 16 May), and Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford (18 - 23 May), ahead of a West End run.

Charlie Mortimer: "To have Fox father and son playing Mortimer father and son is a coup beyond my wildest dreams."

"It's about a geriatric old Etonian hack and long suffering father, which ticks all the boxes for me." James Fox

Two time BAFTA award-winning actor James Fox plays Roger Mortimer. His theatre work includes Resurrection Blues (Old Vic), Uncle Vanya (New York Square Theatre) and Afternoon Men (Arts Club Theatre). For television, his work includes 1864, Death In Paradise, Downtown Abbey, Unknown Heart, The Great Train Robbery - A Coppers Tale, Utopia, Merlin, Red Riding, Margaret, Suez, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Choir, Gulliver's Kingdom and A Question Of Attribution. His extensive film credits include A Long Way From Home, The Double, Effie Gray, Clean Skin, The Kid, Sherlock Holmes, Mr Lonely, The Prince and Me, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, The Golden Bowl, Sexy Beast, Micky Blue Eyes, Remains of The Day, Patriot Games, The Russia House, Farewell to The King, The Whistle Blower, Absolute Beginners, A Passage to India, Greystoke, Performance, Thoroughly Modern Millie, King Rat, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, and The Servant.

Jack Fox said on working with his father, "It's brilliant to see Dad return to the stage, and for me, not just as his son, but as an actor it's a huge privilege to learn from him. People assume as an actor you start as a fully finished article, but that couldn't be further from the truth - it's an honour to work with him. I hope the rapport we share in life will translate to the stage"

Jack Fox plays Charlie Mortimer / Lupin. His theatre credits include The Picture of Dorian Gray (Riverside Studios). For television, his credits include Our Zoo, Mr Selfridge, Dracula, Privates, Fresh Meat, Lewis and Henry VIII: Mind Of A Tyrant; and for film, London Underground, The Messenger, Blood Moon, Kids in Love and Theeb.

Michael Simkins: "Adapting Dear Lupin was an opportunity nobody with my particular humorous sensibilities could turn down, as it's a comic masterpiece, entirely in the long tradition of great humorous English writers I grew up with and whose writing influenced my own style hugely - I'm talking of Jerome K Jerome, George & Weedon Grossmith (Diary of a Nobody - including of course Lupin), PG Wodehouse, Michael Green, Evelyn Waugh , Keith Waterhouse, right up to Bill Bryson. This book - and the play - is the natural successor to these illustrious authors. Writing dialogue and constructing an evening of drama are all new skills for me, and while it's been a long gestation, I've enjoyed the challenge enormously. I have far greater respect for dramatists as a result!"

Actor and writer Michael Simkins books include What's My Motivation?, Fatty Batter, Detour de France and The Rules of Acting. Dear Lupin marks Simkins' playwriting debut.

Philip Franks is an actor and director. He has directed in the West End, at the National Theatre, the Chichester Festival and for most of the major theatres in the country. His work includes Private Lives, The Heiress, and in their Studio, Frankenstein and Early Morning (National Theatre); for Chichester Festival Theatre: Nicholas Nickleby Parts One and Two (also touring, West End and Toronto), Taking Sides and Collaboration (also West End), Twelfth Night, The Cherry Orchard, Separate Tables, The Master Builder, The Deep Blue Sea, Rattigan's Nijinsky and A Marvellous Year for Plums; Dr Faustus, Hamlet, The Duchess of Malfi, The Browning Version (Greenwich Theatre), Great Expectations (Salisbury Playhouse) , Night Must Fall (Theatre Royal, Windsor), Macbeth (Sheffield Theatres), Kafka's Dick, The Kiss of the Spiderwoman (Nottingham Playhouse), Rebecca , The Cocktail Party (Edinburgh), The Comedy of Errors (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre) , 66 Books (Bush Theatre).

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