January 4, 2008

Another audience favourite set to return to the Leven Street stage is the ever-debonair Nigel Havers, who will star in SINGLE SPIES (King's Theatre, March 24-29).

Single Spies, which actually comprises two plays by Alan Bennett – An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution – garnered ecstatic reviews when it first opened at the National Theatre 20 years ago.

The first play finds eminent art historian (and spy) Anthony Blunt in Buckingham Palace, where Her Majesty happens upon him replacing one of her favourite Titians. The painting is a fake, but is The Queen also aware that her enigmatic servant is actually the traitorous 'fourth man'?

In the second installment, the year is 1958. Set in a seedy Moscow apartment, bad false teeth, too much liquor, and a Soviet-issue lover are daily life for double-agent Guy Burgess, an old Etonian in exile. Until that is, actress Coral Browne accepts an invitation to lunch and finds a man longing for society gossip and a new suit from his London tailor.

Tickets for all shows are on sale now, book early to avoid disappointment.

Edinburgh News