Esparza and McKean Join 'Homecoming;' Opens Dec. 4

The 40th Anniversary revival of Harold Pinter's Tony Award-winning play The Homecoming will star Golden Globe Award-winner Ian McShane ("Deadwood") under the direction of Tony Award-winner Daniel Sullivan (Rabbit Hole, Proof). Scheduled to begin rehearsals October 15th, previews will start Friday, November 16th. The production will open Tuesday, December 4th at the Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street).

Co-starring with McShane will be two-time Tony-nominee Raul Esparza (Company, Taboo) and Grammy Award-winner Michael McKean (The Pajama Game, Hairspray).

"Considered one of Harold Pinter's greatest plays, The Homecoming is undoubtedly his most sexually provocative work. Set in North London, the play concerns the ultimate dysfunctional family, presided over by its patriarch Max (McShane). Living under his dilapidated roof are his younger brother Sam (McKean), and two of his sons: Lenny (Esparza), the town pimp, and Joey, a boxer-in-training. Tensions begin to flair with the arrival of Max's eldest son Teddy, who returns home after six years with his new wife Ruth. Seduction, betrayal, and divisiveness ensue, as the family welcomes the homecoming of its estranged brother and vies for the attention of his dangerously alluring wife," state press notes.

The design team will include Tony Award-winners Eugene Lee (Wicked, Sweeney Todd, Candide), Kenneth Posner (The Coast of Utopia, Hairspray), and Jess Goldstein (The Rivals, Jersey Boys).

Pinter is the Nobel Prize-winning author of such landmark works as The Birthday Party, Betrayal, Old Times, No Man's Land, The Caretaker, The Dumb Waiter, Ashes to Ashes, and Celebration. Pinter has also received two Academy Award nominations for his screenplays to Betrayal and The French Lieutenant's Woman as well as the New York Film Critics' Circle Award for The Servant. His other films include The Pumpkin Eater, Accident, The Comfort of Strangers, and the current screen adaptation of Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth starring Michael Caine and Jude Law.

Photo of Raul Esparza by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.