The Lover/The Collection - McKee replaces Fitzgerald
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
GINA McKee will replace Tara Fitzgerald in the Pinter double-bill, The Lover and The Collection, which opens at the Comedy Theatre on January 29, 2008 (previews from January 15). Fitzgerald has been forced to withdraw from the production (currently in rehearsals) due to a ‘serious bronchial infection’.
McKee was last seen on the London stage – at the Donmar Warehouse – in 2004 in another of Pinter’s works, the 1971 three-hander Old Times. She is, however, best known for her numerous screen credits – Atonement, And When Did You Last See Your Father?, Scenes of a Sexual Nature, Greyfriars Bobby and Notting Hill (film); Tsunami: The Aftermath, The Forsyte Saga and Our Friends in the North, for which she won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress (TV).
Previously Posted: A Pinter double bill of the rarely-performed one-act plays, The Lover and The Collection, will run from January 29 (previews from January 15) to May 3, 2008 at the Comedy Theatre.
The Lovers stars Richard Coyle and Tara Fitzgerald as a husband and wife who use the fantasy of infidelity to spice up their romance. However, the charade spills over into real life.
And Timothy West and Charlie Cox join Coyle and Fitzgerald in The Collection, an explosive comedy that centres on two couples who fall victim to suspicion and jealousy when a one-night stand involving two of them is exposed.
Coyle’s theatre credits include After Miss Julie (Donmar Warehouse); Proof (opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, again at the Donmar); and most recently, Don Carlos (opposite Derek Jacobi at the Gielgud Theatre). His screen credits include Whistleblowers, Coupling (as Jeff), Strange, The Best Man, The Libertine and Cracker.
Fitzgerald’s theatre credits include And Then There Were None, Antigone, Our Song, Hamlet (opposite Ralph Fiennes), A Doll’s House and Clouds. She is, however, best known for her many screen roles – in Brassed Off, I Capture the Castle, The Camomile Lawn, Sirens, Hear My Song and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
West’s career has spanned five decades and includes stage, television and film. His credits include The Old Country, The Master Builder, Henry IV, Luther, The Life of Galileo, National Hero, The Birthday Party and The External (stage); Brass, Murder in Mind, Bedtime and Bleak House (TV); and Iris, The Day of the Jackal, Joan of Arc and Ever After (film).
And Cox is currently starring in the film Stardust opposite Michelle Pfeiffer.
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The Pinter double bill will be directed by Jamie Lloyd whose previous work includes the 2007 production of Pinter’s The Caretaker (Sheffield Crucible and Tricycle Theatre) which starred Nigel Harman, Con O’Neill and David Bradley. Lloyd was also associate director on Michael Grandage’s Guy’s and Dolls and Evita.
Boeing-Boeing is currently playing at the Comedy Theatre.
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