The entire cast of Donmar Warehouse hit My Night With Reg, which includes Downton Abbey star Julian Ovenden, will transfer with the production to London’s Apollo Theatre in the new year.
The show, which also stars Matt Bardock, Jonathan Broadbent, Richard Cant, Lewis Reeves and Geoffrey Streatfeild, will run in the West End from 17 January, following Urinetown The Musical into the Shaftesbury Avenue venue.
Kevin Elyot’s seminal play is set in London’s gay community during the 80s against the backdrop of the growing AIDS crisis. First staged at the Royal Court in 1994 and revived at the Donmar earlier this year it follows a group of six friends for whom the world is about to change forever.
When the production, directed by Robert Hastie, played at the intimate Covent Garden venue early this year The Observer’s Susannah Clapp said it “never ceases to scintillate”.
My Night With Reg’s move to the Apollo marks the second West End transfer of Donmar Warehouse Artistic Director Josie Rourke’s tenure following the transfer of the Olivier Award nominated production of The Weir.
The news of My Night With Reg’s transfer confirms that Urinetown The Musical will end its run at the Apollo Theatre on 10 January. The satirical, self-referential hit, which wowed audiences at the St James Theatre before making the leap to the West End, announced last week that comedian, actor and Never Mind The Buzzcocks team captain Phill Jupitus would join the cast from 1 December.