Butley

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Tristram Kenton

1 June – 27 August 2011
Duchess Theatre, London

Dominic West, star of hit US drama The Wire, plays rapier-tongued lecturer Ben Butley in a major new revival of Simon Gray's award-winning comedy.

Ben Butley is having a monumentally bad start to the term. So bad, he's making sure everyone else has a worse one. Over the course of a day he discovers that his estranged wife is divorcing him for the most boring man in London and, even worse, that his beloved protege and best friend is leaving him too. Once a brilliant and charismatic professor, Butley suddenly finds his life and relationships self-combusting in a matter of hours.

Butley might be going down, but he sure as hell is going down fighting. Employing his trusty arsenal of mischievous irony and gleeful wit, Butley diverts attention from his unravelling life by entangling his students and colleagues in his own dangerous blend of trouble and fun.

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Cast

Ben Butley - Dominic West
Reg Nuttal - Paul McGann
Edna Shaft - Penny Downie
Anne Butley - Amanda Drew
Joseph - Martin Hutson
Mr Gardner - Kai Brigden
Miss Heasman - Emma Hiddleston
Understudy Ben & Reg - Andrew McDonald
Understudy Anne, Edna & Heaaman - Rhiannon Sommers

Creative Team

Writer - Simon Gray
Director - Lindsay Posner
Designer - Peter McKintosh
Lighting Designer - Howard Harrison
Casting Director - Maggie Lunn
Assistant Director - Tom Attenborough

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★★★★

Electric. Dominic West is amazing.


The Times

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★★★★

Martin Hutson is compelling.


Daily Express

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★★★★

Amanda Drew endows her character with an extra-textual life.

The Guardian

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★★★★

Thrilling. A show not to miss.


Daily Telegraph

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★★★★

Superb.


Financial times

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★★★★

Lindsay Posner has crafted an intense & strikingly raw revival.


Evening Standard