Billie Piper is to return to the stage in November to appear in Neil LaBute’s new play Reasons To Be Pretty, which opens at the Almeida theatre on 17 November (previews from 10 November).
She will star alongside Almeida theatre regulars Tom Burke, Kieran Bew and Siân Brooke in LaBute’s tale examining our perception of beauty.
Former pop star Piper is best known for playing the Doctor’s companion Rose in Doctor Who opposite both Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant. Her other acting work includes The Secret Diary of A Call Girl, Mansfield Park, The Ruby In The Smoke and The Canterbury Tales. She made her professional stage debut in 2007 in Christopher Hampton’s Treats at the Garrick theatre.
Burke returns to the Almeida theatre where he previously appeared in Macbeth. His other stage credits include Design For Living at the Old Vic and Creditors and The Cut at the Donmar Warehouse.
Brooke’s appearance in Reasons To Be Pretty will follow directly after her current role in Stephen Poliakoff’s new play My City, which runs at the Almeida theatre from 8 September to 5 November. Brooke also recently appeared in Mike Leigh’s revival of his own play Ecstasy at the Hampstead theatre and West End, as well as Dido Queen Of Carthage at the National Theatre and Wanderlust at the Royal Court.
Completing the cast, Bew was seen in the Almedia theatre’s The Knot Of The Heart in March this year.
Directed by Almeida theatre Artistic Director Michael Attenborough, Reasons To Be Pretty centres on two couples. Greg is overheard admitting that his girlfriend Steph is no beauty, while his best friend Kent alternates between boasting about how gorgeous his wife Carly is and chasing after a hot new colleague.
The king of acerbic comedy, LaBute’s previous work on the London stage includes Fat Pig, Wrecks, Bash, In A Dark Dark House – also at the Almeida theatre – and In A Forest Deep And Dark, which played in the West End earlier this year.
CB