Matthew Perry Perked by 'Perversity' Mon February 10, 2003 11:45 AM ET By Matt Wolf
LONDON (Variety) - Matthew Perry will make his professional stage debut in May toplining a London revival of "Sexual Perversity in Chicago," David Mamet's chronicle of life on the carnal warpath in 1970s Chicago.
The "Friends" star joins Hank Azaria and already-announced Minnie Driver in director Lindsay Posner's production, which starts previews May 3 at the Comedy Theater and opens its 13-week stand May 12.
Mark Rubinstein, Old Vic Prods., and Sonia Friedman Prods. are co-producers of a venture that has been in the works for some months. A fourth performer, the play's other female character, has yet to be cast.
Posner's directing credits include a London stand several years back of Mamet's "American Buffalo."
Perry will portray Danny, the part played by Rob Lowe in "About Last Night," the 1986 film adaptation of Mamet's 1974 play. First produced on stage in Chicago, the play has seen several Off Broadway revivals since its 1975 New York premiere and has long been a favorite in London, where it has allowed decades of young British thesps and drama school students a chance to cut their teeth in the American vernacular.
Driver's immersion in the American repertoire needs little introduction (her film career includes numerous American roles), but her London theater appearances of late have been limited to a brief guest stint in the Broadway-bound comedy "The Play What I Wrote."
LONDON LAUNCHPAD
The casting of Perry will no doubt further the impression that London has become the favorite starting-off point for Americans eager to kickstart a stage career. Several seasons ago, theater neophyte Daryl Hannah trod the West End boards in "The Seven Year Itch," while the Kenneth Lonergan play "This Is Our Youth" has hosted four separate casts made up almost entirely of screen-savvy stage novices (or near-novices), including Chris Klein, Matt Damon and Jake Gyllenhaal.