Toby Stephens (Oslo, Lost in Space) and Claire Skinner (Outnumbered, The Father) will reunite this fall for the West End revival of Peter Nichols' (Privates on Parade, Passion Play) A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. The pair worked together 18 years ago in the BBC-TV drama Perfect Strangers.
Directed by Simon Evans (Killer Joe, Arturo Ui), previews will begin September 21 prior to an official opening October 2 at Trafalgar Studios.
Inspired by Nichols' own experience of bringing up his disabled daughter in the 1960s, Joe Egg was one of the ground–breaking plays of its generation. In the play, Bri (Stephens) and Sheila (Skinner) have been struggling to care for their disabled 10–year old daughter Josephine ever since she was born. Nicknaming her "Joe Egg," they lose themselves in fantasy games and black humor to help cope with the struggle of their daily reality.
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In a statement Stephens said, "I'm thrilled to be part of a revival of this fantastic play. Reading it for the first time, I couldn’t believe that it had been written in the late sixties; it felt so vivid, dark, and anarchically funny. The play still feels very raw and relevant, today. I’m very glad to be working with Claire Skinner again after quite a long interval—some 18 years! I think she is a very fine actor, and I was really excited to hear that she wanted to do the play as well."
Skinner added, "I'm really looking forward to coming back to the West End with this complex, thought-provoking, and funny play and I'm also looking forward to working with Toby again after 18 years!"
Director Evans stated, "At a time when the act of living well from day to day seems tougher than ever, I can’t help but resonate with the characters in Joe Egg: displaying such wit, weakness, cruelty, and courage as they struggle on."
