BUTLEY Concludes Limited Run at Duchess Theatre, 8/27

Theatregoers have less than a month left to see Dominic West, star of The Hour and The Wire, give one of the performances of the summer in the West End comedy Butley.

The comedy, written by Simon Gray, must end its limited season run at the Duchess Theatre, Covent Garden, on Saturday 27th August. It has proved a hit with critics and audiences alike, and there are just a few opportunities left to see West play the rapier-tongued lecturer Ben Butley, in a performance that has been tipped for several awards later this year.

Ben Butley is having a monumentally bad start to the term. So bad, he's making sure everyone else has a worse one. Over the course of a day he discovers that his estranged wife is divorcing him for the most boring man in London and, even worse, that his beloved protégé and best friend is leaving him too. Once a brilliant and charismatic professor, Butley suddenly finds his life and relationships self-combusting in a matter of hours.

Butley might be going down, but he sure as hell is going down fighting. Employing his trusty arsenal of mischievous irony and gleeful wit, Butley diverts attention from his unravelling life by entangling his students and colleagues in his own dangerous blend of trouble and fun.

Butley premiered in 1971 in Harold Pinter's award-winning production starring Alan Bates at London's Criterion Theatre. Forty years on, West takes the lead in this razor sharp and darkly comic assault on the soft underbelly of academia.

The cast also includes Paul McGann (Withnail & I, Doctor Who, Luther). Full cast: Dominic West, Paul McGann, Penny Downie, Amanda Drew, Martin Hutson, Cai Brigden, Emma Hiddleston

The production is directed by Lindsay Posner and designed by Peter McKintosh, with lighting designed by Howard Harrison and sound designed by Matt McKenzie.

Dominic West is currently appearing as Hector Madden in BBC2's hit drama The Hour, and is playing Fred West in ITV1's upcoming drama Appropriate Adult. He also played the character of Jimmy McNulty in five seasons of The Wire (HBO) from 2002 to 2008. His other screen credits include The Devil's Whore, Centurion and 300. His theatre credits include The Seagull (Old Vic), As You Like It (West End), The Voysey Inheritance (National), Rock ‘n' Roll (West End) and Life Is A Dream (Donmar).

Butley is produced by Mark Rubinstein, Eleanor Lloyd, Lee Menzies and Dena Hammerstein/Pam Pariseau.