Olivier Award-winning actor James Dreyfus will star in a new production of Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy Harvey to be directed by fellow Olivier recipient Lindsay Posner.
The Gimme Gimme Gimme star, who was last seen on the London stage in the Menier Chocolate Factory’s Candide, will star as Elwood P Dowd in the infamous tale of a man’s unwavering friendship with a six-foot tall invisible rabbit named Harvey.
The production of the comedy classic will open at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in February before heading off on a UK tour ending in a West End run. Dates and the venue for its London arrival are yet to be announced.
Harvey was first seen on Broadway in 1944 before being immortalised on screen in the James Stewart-led 1950s film adaptation. In Chase’s hilarious story, Elwood’s sister Veta attempt to save the family’s reputation by taking him to see psychiatrist Dr William Chumley. But when the doctor mistakenly commits anxiety-ridden Veta instead of her brother, it sets off a whirlwind of confusion and chaos as everyone tries to catch a man and his invisible rabbit.
Dreyfus will be best known to many for his extensive screen credits that include the hugely successful film Notting Hill and starring roles in televisions series Mount Pleasant, My Hero and The Thin Blue Line. He is also a respected stage actor, winning an Olivier Award for his role in the National Theatre’s The Lady In The Dark and boasting West End credits in productions of Cabaret and Breakfast At Tiffany’s.
London audiences will be able to catch a brief run of Posner’s production, which follows his most recent directing credit Speed-The-Plow, at the Richmond Theatre where it will play from 3 to 7 March.