West End run of rare sketches

Bill Bailey is to appear on the West End stage in a series of rare Harold Pinter sketches.

The comic will appear alongside acclaimed comedy actors Sally Phillips, Kevin Eldon and Geraldine McNulty in the four-week run.

The production will be directed by Sean Foley, of The Right Size double act that created the Morecambe and Wise tribute The Play What I Wrote.

Foley has chosen 13 of Pinter’s darkly funny plays from his early days as a playwright in the Fifties.

In one, Night, Bailey and My Hero star McNulty play a man and woman recalling that the first time they held each other – but with entirely different memories. In another, New World Order, Bailey and Eldon taunt a man blindfolded in front of them.

Bailey will be the second actor this year to tackle work by 76-year-old Pinter. Lee Evans stars in a 50th anniversary revival of his play The Dumb Waiter at the Trafalgar Studios from February 2.

Pinter’s People opens at the Theatre Royal Haymarket a day earlier, with previews from January 30.

A spokesman for the production said: ‘It will be one of the last chances to see Pinter as the playwright himself intended. It will also be a unique opportunity to see four of our most talented and respected comic actors together.’

Bailey has previously acted in 12 Angry Men and The Odd Couple on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Published: 6 Jan 2007