Edward Fox is to star in John Mortimer’s double bill Legal Fictions at the Savoy from 21 February.
The production, which is directed by Christopher Morahan and also stars Nicholas Woodeson and Polly Adams, comes to the capital following a UK tour last year.
Legal Fictions is a double bill of legal dramas The Dock Brief and Edwin, which use barbed wit and judicial humour to show that the law can make an ass of us all.
In The Dock Brief, incompetent barrister Morganhall is asked to represent the lugubrious Mr Fowle, who confesses to murdering his wife. Although the two of them rehearse a masterly defence in the cell, when they reach the courtroom everything goes horribly wrong.
Edwin centres on retired High Court Judge Fennimore Truscott, who continues to sit in judgement on as many people as he can – in his imagination. But when he turns his overly suspicious mind towards his wife’s friendship with the next door neighbour, he opens up a can of worms.
Fox’s many stage credits include You Never Can Tell at the Garrick in 2005, The Family Reunion and A Letter Of Resignation. The multi BAFTA-winning actor also starred in the films The Day Of The Jackal, Gandhi, A Bridge Too Far, Never Say Never Again and The Importance Of Being Earnest, and television dramas including Edward And Mrs Simpson and Daniel Deronda
Former barrister and writer Mortimer is perhaps best known for creating the character Rumpole, first in a play, then the television series Rumpole Of The Bailey and a series of novels. His other works include the television adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, the screenplays Cider With Rosie and Tea With Mussolini and the autobiographical play A Voyage Round My Father, which was revived by Thea Sharrock at the Donmar Warehouse and Wyndham’s in 2006.
Mortimer wrote The Dock Brief as a radio play in 1957, going on to develop it into a stage play, a television drama, and then a film in 1962, which starred Peter Sellers and Richard Attenborough. Edwin also started life as a radio play, in 1982, and was produced for television two years later.
Legal Fictions opens at the Savoy on 28 February after previews from 21 February and is booking until 26 April.
Currently at the Savoy is Fiddler On The Roof, which ends its nine-month run on 26 January. em>CB