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Best known for a villainous turn in ‘Die Another Day’ and playing Prof John Robinson in the Netflix reboot of ‘Lost in Space’, Hollywood actor Toby Stephens is showcasing his funnier side when he returns to the West End this autumn. He’ll star alongside Claire Skinner, who made her name as the perma-harried mum in ‘Outnumbered’, in classic parenting black comedy ‘A Day in the Death of Joe Egg’. It‘ll open at Trafalgar Studios on September 21, in a production directed by rising star Simon Evans.
‘A Day in the Death of Joe Egg’ is a determinedly weird, subversively hilarious two-hander penned by Peter Nichols, who drew on his own experiences of caring for a disabled child. Stephens and Skinner play the parents of a ten-year-old disabled daughter who cope with the strains of caring for her by retreating into a surreal fantasy world, mocking the well-meaning do-gooders who try to help them and playing out dark scenarios. It became a runaway success from its premiere in 1967 at the Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, shocking audiences with its taboo-busting, offbeat approach to the bleaker sides of caring.
This West End revival at Trafalgar Studios will be the first major London production since the 2001 version, which starred Clive Owen. ‘A Day in the Death of Joe Egg’ has also been adapted twice for the screen (in 1970 and 2002); this 2019 revival is a chance for a new generation of theatregoers to be introduced to its darkly compelling world.
‘A Day in the Death of Joe Egg’ opens at Trafalgar Studios on September 21. Click here to buy tickets.
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