Zachary Quinto and David Harewood to star in James Graham's BEST OF ENEMIES
Casting has been announced for James Graham’s award-winning new play Best of Enemies, which begins previews at the Noel Coward Theatre on 14 November.
Zachary Quinto (The Boys in the Band, American Horror Story, Star Trek) will make his West End debut as Gore Vidal, opposite David Harewood (Homeland, Super Girl, Ten Percent) who is reprising his role as William F. Buckley Jr.
1968 – a year of protest that divided America. As two men fight to become the next President, all eyes are on the battle between two others: the cunningly conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and the iconoclastic liberal Gore Vidal. Beliefs are challenged and slurs slung as these political idols feud nightly in a new television format, debating the moral landscape of a shattered nation. Little do they know they're about to open up a new frontier in American politics, and transform television news forever…
Completing the cast are Deborah Alli, Emilio Doorgasingh, Clare Foster, Tom Godwin, John Hodgkinson, Syrus Lowe, Kevin McMonagle and Sam Otto who will each perform multiple roles within the play including Andy Warhol, James Baldwin, Patricia Buckley, Howard Austen, Aretha Franklin and Martin Luther-King. The ensemble includes David Boyle, Lincoln Conway, Vivienne Ekwulugo, Jamie Hogarth and Saaj Raja.
Written by James Graham and directed by Jeremy Herrin, Best of Enemies is designed by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Jack Knowles, sound by Tom Gibbons, video by Max Spielbichler, composition by Benjamin Kwasi Burrell, movement direction by Shelley Maxwell, and casting by Charlotte Sutton CDG (UK) and Jim Carnahan CSA (US).
Best of Enemies won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Best New Theatre Production and the Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play and was also nominated for two Olivier Awards following its run at the Young Vic. This production is brought to the West End by Second Half Productions, Eleanor Lloyd Productions, Wessex Grove, the Young Vic Theatre and Headlong. Wagner Johnson Productions will be Executive Producers.
David Harewood says: “I consider Best of Enemies to be one of the most enjoyable and challenging experiences of my whole career and I cannot wait to once again get under the skin of this uniquely complex character. Jeremy’s brilliant direction and James’s wonderful script combine to give both actor and audience a stimulating, thought-provoking and wildly entertaining evening out and I’m counting down the days to performing this show again in the West End.”
Zachary Quinto says: “Living and working in London has long been an aspiration of mine. But to be making my West End debut in such a thrilling and relevant play - amongst such a distinguished creative team - and playing such a scorching and complex character as Gore Vidal - far exceeds my expectations of what living and working in London would look like… I’m full of gratitude and excitement. Best of Enemies harkens back to a vital time - when genuine discourse was possible from even the most opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. My hope is that such discourse may be once again rekindled in response to the work itself.”
Tickets go on sale for priority bookers from today (5 September), with tickets on general sale from 10am tomorrow (6 September).
For more information, please click here.
