Legal Fictions - Savoy Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
FOLLOWING a regional tour, Legal Fictions, a double bill of short plays by John Mortimer – The Dock Brief and Edwin – will transfer to the West End’s Savoy Theatre for a limited season – from February 29 (previews from February 21) to April 26, 2008.
In The Dock Brief, incompetent barrister Morganhall is representing the doleful Mr Fowle who admits murdering his jovial wife. In his cell, the two men rehearse a masterly defence but once in court, everything goes wrong…..
And in Edwin, Fennimore Truscott, a retired High Court Judge, has a habit of trying as many people as he can – in his imagination. However, when his thoughts turn to his wife’s friendship with the next door neighbour, he unwittingly opens a can of worms…..
Legal Fictions stars Edward Fox whose theatre credits include Old Masters, The Winslow Boy, Family Reunion, A Letter of Resignation, The Rivals and, most recently, Peter Hall’s 2005 West End revival of Shaw’s You Never Can Tell. His numerous screen credits include The Day of the Jackal, A Bridge Too Far, Force 10 from Navarone and Gandhi (film); Edward and Mrs Simpson (for which he won the 1978 BAFTA Award for Best Actor), Foyle’s War, Daniel Deronda and Oliver Twist (TV).
He will be joined in Legal Fictions by Nicholas Woodeson (Rome, Doc Martin) and Polly Adams (The Winslow Boy, Entertaining Angels). The production is directed by Christopher Morahan and presented in the West End by Theatre Royal Bath Productions.
John Mortimer, novelist, playwright, QC and practising barrister for many years, is probably best known for his collection of short stories, Rumpole of the Bailey which became a hit television series that ran for 17 years.
His plays include The Wrong Side of the Park, Hock and Soda Water and the autobiographical A Voyage Round My Father which was revived by Thea Sharrock at the Donmar Warehouse and Wyndham’s Theatre in 2006. He has also written screenplays for Brideshead Revisited, Paradise Postponed and Tea with Mussolini.
Fiddler on the Roof is playing at the Savoy Theatre until February 16, 2008.
Legal Fictions will be followed by the Take That musical Never Forget which begins performances on May 7, 2008.
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