Theatres - Comedy

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La Bete ( Comedy ) - Play

Hotly anticipated as this year's must-see production, La Bete is a dazzling, critically acclaimed comedy by American playwright David Hirson. Starring the extraordinary 2010 Olivier Award-winning actor Mark Rylance (Jerusalem, Boeing-Boeing), 'the most exciting stage actor of his generation' (Times), the wonderful Tony and Emmy Award-winning David Hyde Pierce (best known as Niles in the smash-hit sitcom Frasier), and one of the country's most loved and popular actresses, the magnificent Joanna Lumley, this new staging is directed by the internationally acclaimed, multi-award-winning Matthew Warchus (God of Carnage, Boeing-Boeing, Art, The Norman Conquests). When Princess Conti (Joanna Lumley) invites street clown Valere (Mark Rylance) to inject some bawdy fun and mischief into her staid acting troupe, she anticipates an exciting creative combination. But the troupe's leader, Elomire (David Hyde Pierce), is an elitist and fervent lover of high-brow theatre who clashes with Valere - a gaudy comic and a fervent lover of . well, himself. So begins a gloriously witty and wildly hilarious battle of art and egos. Written in 1991, La Bete was a huge critical success in London in 1992 and won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy.

Birdsong ( Comedy ) - Play

Based on Sebastian Faulks's international best-selling novel, the play tells the story of one man's journey through an all consuming love affair and into the horror of the First World War.While staying as the guest of a factory owner in pre-First World War France, Stephen Wraysford embarks on a passionate affair with Isabelle, the wife of his host. The affair changes them both for ever. A few years later Stephen finds himself back in the same part of France, but this time as a soldier at the Battle of the Somme, the bloodiest encounter in British military history. As his men die around him, Stephen turns to his enduring love for Isabelle for the strength to continue and to save something for future generations.For the first time, this beautiful and terrible story about love, courage and the endurance of the human spirit is brought to the stage in a version by Rachel Wagstaff. The world premiere of this production is directed by Trevor Nunn.

Comedy

Panton Street
London SW1Y 4DN

Nearest Tube: Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Charing Cross
Nearest Bus Stop: 14, 19, 24, 29, 38, 176

The Royal Comedy Theatre, as it was then known, opened on 15 October 1881. The theatre's reputation grew through the First World War when C.B. Cochran and AndrÃ© Charlot presented their famous review shows.

The range of work at the Comedy Theatre has been far reaching, from musical comedies to revival and experimental theatre and includes hugely successful shows such as Savages starring Paul Scofield in 1973 and The Rocky Horror Show making its West End debut in 1979. Alan Bennett has appeared with Patricia Routledge in his Talking Heads and Stockard Channing appeared in Six Degrees of Separation, which won best play at the 1993 Olivier Awards. No history of the Comedy Theatre would be complete without reference to Harold Pinter. The Homecoming, No-man's Land, Moonlight, The Hothouse and The Caretaker have all been presented in recent years.

Maureen Lipman has also graced the Comedy stage starring in Alan Plater's highly acclaimed comedy, Peggy For You, but The Comedy's two biggest successes must be The Caretaker starring Michael Gambon in 2000 and an eight week sell out of Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs in 1999, starring Ewan McGregor and directed by Denis Lawson, which smashed all box office records.