Photo Flash: BUTLEY Opens at London's Duchess Theatre
By: Lauren Wolman Jun. 04, 2011
Dominic West, star of hit US drama "The Wire," takes on the iconic title role of the rapier-tongued lecturer in a major new revival of Simon Gray's BUTLEY. The play premiered in 1971 in Harold Pinter's award-winning production starring Alan Bates at London's Criterion Theatre. Forty years on, West takes the lead in this razor sharp and darkly comic assault on the soft underbelly of academia.
The cast also includes Penny Downie, whose recent credits include playing Queen Gertrude alongside David Tennant in Hamlet for the RSC, and the feature film Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood. Paul McGann (Withnail and I, Doctor Who) plays the character of Reg Nuttall.
The production is directed by Lindsay Posner, whose credits include An Ideal Husband, A View From The Bridge (both West End), Fiddler on the Roof (Sheffield Crucible and West End), Fool for Love, Oleanna (both West End) and Death and the Maiden (Royal Court and West End). The production will be designed by Peter McKintosh.
Ben Butley is having a monumentally bad day. So bad, he's making sure everyone else has a worse one. His estranged wife has taken up with the most boring man in London. His beloved protégé has found a new benefactor. And in an unprecedented act of betrayal even the English department's resident failure has a book deal. Butley's trusty arsenal - mischievous irony and gleeful troublemaking - have never failed him yet. Might they finally prove to be the weapons of his own tragic self-destruction?
BUTLEY runs through August 27 at the Duchess Theatre in London.
Photo Credit: Jane Hobson/LNP/Zuma Press and Bettina Strenske/LNP/Zuma Press
Dominic West in a scene with and MARTIN HUTSON as Joseph Keyston (R).
Dominic West as Ben Butley, left, and Martin Hutson as Joseph Keyston, right.
Amanda Drew as Anne Butley and Dominic West as Butley.
Dominic West as Ben Butley, right, and Martin Hutson as Joseph Keyston, left.
Amanda Drew as Anne Butley and Dominic West as Butley.
L to R: Martin Hutson as Joseph Keyston, Penny Downie as Edna Shaft and Dominic West as Butley.
Dominic West (l) as Butley and Martin Hutson (r) as Joseph Keyston.
Martin Hutson as Joseph Keyston, Penny Downie as Edna Shaft and Dominic West as Ben Butley (from left)
L ro R: Amanda Drew as Anne Butley, Martin Hutson as Joseph Keyston and Dominic West as Butley.
Dominic West (l) as Butley and Martin Hutson (r) as Joseph Keyston.
Paul McGann (l) as Reg Nuttall and Dominic West (r) as Butley.
Dominic West (l) as Butley and Martin Hutson (r) as Joseph Keyston.
Dominic West (l) as Butley and Martin Hutson (r) as Joseph Keyston.
s Dominic West (l) as Butley and Martin Hutson (r) as Joseph Keyston.
Penny Downie as Edna Shaft and Dominic West as Ben Butley.
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