David Suchet Talks Finding His Feminine Side in West End's IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST; Further Casting Announced!

As previously announced, David Suchet will star as 'Lady Bracknell' in Oscar Wilde's much loved and exhilarating masterpiece THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. Directed by Adrian Noble, the new production will open in the West End on July 1, 2015, with previews from June 24 at the Vaudeville Theatre.

Suchet recently told the Daily Mail that Goeffrey Rush and Brian Bedford's portrayals of the iconic character led him to take the role, but that he wants to play the lady "straight."

"Please god that I don't become a pantomime dame -- that would ruin the play," he said. "I'm going to explore my feminine side, though she is quite a masculine character. She will be one hundred percent woman...I will use my upper register. Thew wit expressed has got to get the audience -- not the way I sound."

He added, after trying on his costume and finding something of a waist in himself: "I want, as much as possible, to try and find the right kind of shape for her; and how she moves will be important, too."

Suchet has also asked producers Kim Poster and Nica Burns to take the production on tour. Let's hope they take him up on the offer!

Also joining the cast are Philip Cumbus (Algernon Moncrieff), Michael Benz (John 'Jack' Worthing), and Richard O'Callaghan (Reverend Chasuble), alongside stars Michele Dotrice, Emily Barber and Imogen Doel.

Written shortly before Wilde fell foul of society's unbending condemnation, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST fizzes with wit as he delights in debunking social pretensions. Two bachelor friends, upper crust dandy Algernon Moncrieff and the most reliable John Worthing J.P., lead double lives to court the attentions of the desirable Gwendolyn Fairfax and Cecily Cardew. The gallants must then grapple with the uproarious consequences of their ruse, and with the formidable Lady Bracknell.

David Suchet is one of Britain's most respected actors on stage, screen and television. He was awarded the CBE in 2010. David is best known for his role as the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie's Poirot and he has recently completed all 74 Poirot TV films which is the whole canon ofAgatha Christie's Poirot stories. His other television work includes Great Expectations, Richard II, Hidden, Diverted, the award-winning BBC drama Maxwell (for which he won Best Actor International Emmy Award in 2008), The Life of Freud, Victoria and Albert, Murder in Mind and Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now (BAFTA nomination). Suchet's film credits include Effie, The Bank Job, The In-Laws, A Perfect Murder, Executive Decision and Sunday (winner of the best film at Sundance Film Festival). David has also worked extensively in theatre. His recent stage credits include Long Day's Journey Into Night, All My Sons (Best Actor What'sOnStage.com Awards, Evening Standard Theatre Awards nomination and Olivier Award nomination), Complicit (The Old Vic), Once in a Lifetime (National Theatre), The Last Confession (Theatre Royal Haymarket) and the Royal Shakespeare Company productions of Troilus and Cressida, The Tempest and Othello. Other credits include Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Critic's Circle Award), Separation (Olivier Award nomination), Oleanna and Amadeus (Best Actor, Royal Variety Club Award, Tony nomination on Broadway and Olivier Award nomination).