Dateline 7th November, 1999
Gala ends year of Coward celebrations
Noel Cowards centenary year is to end on 12th December (four days before his birthday) with a gale, Noel Coward - The Centernary Celebration at the Savoy. Taking part will be Alan Bates, Simon Russell Beale, Simon Callow, Charles Dance, Lucy Fleming, Edward Fox, Stephen Fry, Nigel Havers, Derek Jacobi, John Mills, Greta Scacchi, Donald Sinden, Imogen Stubbs and James Wilby. The show will be introduced by Richard Attenborough and will be co-directed by Trevor Nunn, Christopher Morahan, Maria Aitken, Patrick Garland, Kit Thacker and Hugh Woodridge.
Proceeds from the evening will go to the Noel Coward Scholarship Fund, a charity for students applying to drama schools.
Ian Bannen killed in car crash
Actor Ian Bannen, most recently seen in the film Waking Ned, has been killed in a car crash near Loch Ness in Scotland. No other vehicles were involved and the driver was taken to Raigmore Hospital. He was 71.
Burns film planned
Alloway Films, a Scottish company, is planning a film of the life of Scottish vernacular poet Robbie Burns. Provisionally entitled Clarinda (after the name Edinburgh intellectual and poetess Agnes McLehose used in her correspondence with him), it will be based around the unrequited love affair between the two.
It is understood that the company is already talking to Emma Thompson and Robert Carlyle about roles in the film and that their preference for the actor to play Burns is either Ewan McGregor or Johnny Depp.
Lloyd Webber working on Indian musical
Andrew Lloyd Webber has begun exploratory work on what has been described as a "Bollywood musical" with Indian film director Shekhar Kapur.
Chiltern Hundreds revival
William Douglas Home's The Chiltern Hundreds is to have a West End revival this month, with Edward Fox in the leading role of the Earl of Lister. The play, written in 1947, previews from Tuesday of this week, and opens at the Vaudeville on 17th November. It will be directed by Ray Cooney.
Double Mamet revival next year
Two David Mamet plays are to have West End revivals next year. American Buffalo (1975) opens at the Donmar Warehouse on 3rd February, after previewing from 28th January. It will run until 26th February before transferring to the Atlantic Theatre in New York.
The production stars William H Macy, co-founder with Mamet of the Atlantic heatre Company of New York, which is co-producing the play.
His 1988 play Speed the Plow will open at the New Ambassadors in March. No cast details or exact dates have yet been announced.
Jane Eyre at the Ambassadors
Shared Experience is to present Polly Teale's production of Jane Eyre is to have a run at the Ambassadors from 25th November to 24th December (previews from 23rd). This is the company's West End debut.
The show will then tour India before final performances in new York in February.
Delayed openings
Dancing on Dangerous Ground, the new Irish dance extravaganza, and Caspar have delayed their West End openings by six and five days respectively. No reasons for the delays have been given.
New film for Dame Judi
Judi Dench is to star in a new BBC/Working Title film, The Blonde Bombshells, along with Ian Holm, Cleo Laine, Olympia Dukakis and June Whitfield. The film, written by Alan Plater, tells how, fifty years on, Dame Judi attempts to recapture her youth by revicing the all-girl band she played in during World War II.