The Stage

Sex and the City star Cattrall to make UK stage debut

Published Friday 23 July 2004 at 12:50 by Ruth Gillespie

Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall will make her British theatre debut as Claire Harrison in an updated version of Brian Clark’s Whose Life Is It Anyway? directed by Peter Hall.

Produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and Mark Rubinstein, Whose Life Is It Anyway? opens at the Duke of York’s Theatre on January 25, with previews from January 7, for a limited 16-week run until April 30.

The play was Clark’s first major production and premiered at the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1978 when it won the Society of West End Theatre’s Best Play award and the Evening Standard’s Most Promising Playwright award. In 1979 it reopened on Broadway with Mary Tyler Moore, who subsequently won a Tony Award for her performance as Claire Harrison.

• David Essex and Sophie Lawrence will star in Boogie Nights 2, a sequel to the seventies musical created by Jon Conway, which charts the original characters ten years later.

Set to eighties hits including anthems by Wham!, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and The Human League, the show also includes Scott Robinson from boy band 5IVE and Mark Jones.

• Former EastEnders actor Michael Greco will join West End stars Craig Urbani and Julie-Alanah Brighten in a new UK tour of Kiss Me, Kate opening at Wimbledon New Theatre on August 23.

After leaving Albert Square, Greco made his West End debut in the title role of Billy Flynn in Chicago and has just completed a UK tour of About Alice. Further casting will be announced on August 4.

• This year’s Open Air Shakespeare Festival will feature Twelfth Night, starring Wayne Sleep, Norman Pace and Carly Hillman, and Much Ado About Nothing, starring Robert J Williamson, at Holland Park for eight performances from August 10. Both plays will be produced by the Robert J Williamson Company, which is currently celebrating its tenth anniversary year.