BWW Takes a Closer Look at Harry Enfield's Upcoming Project with the Young Vic, ONCE IN A LIFETIME

Harry Enfield will play studio boss Herman Glogauer in Christopher Hart's adaptation of Kaufman and Hart's classic Hollywood comedy, Once in a Lifetime.

Enfield is joined in the cast of Richard Jones' production by John Marquez as George and Claudie Blakley as May, with further casting still to be announced.

Three actors in a struggling vaudeville troupe travel West to try their luck in 1930s Hollywood. With the advent of talking pictures, it's a changing industry. A chance meeting with a film journalist gives May, George and Jerry an idea: brimming with chutzpah they found a school of elocution for starlets of the silver screen, to help them adapt to 'talkies'. When their scheme takes off they are plunged into the frenetic world of a Hollywood studio, full of glitz and glamour - but as their responsibilities escalate, will the lustre last?

Award-winning director Richard Jones brings this satire to life, with design by Hyemi Shin and costumes by Nicky Gillibrand. Casting is by Julia Horan, CDG. The cast includes: Daniel Abelson, Claudie Blakley, Okorie Chukwu, Lucy Cohu, Lizzy Connolly, Buffy Davis, Harry Enfield, Otto Farrant, Amy Griffiths, Amanda Lawrence and John Marquez. Further casting is still to be announced.

Harry Enfield is a BAFTA Award-winning writer, comedian, actor and director. His film credits include: Swallows and Amazons, Scottish Mussel, Acts of Godfrey, Churchill: The Hollywood Years and Tooth. His television credits include: The Windsors, Upstart Crow, Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul, for which he won a British Comedy Award and two BAFTA TV Awards, Bad Education, Psychobitches, Blandings, It's Kevin, The Hunt For Tony Blair and Skins. His writing credits for television include: Saturday Night Live, Friday Night Live, Harry Enfield's Television Programme, Harry Enfield And Chums, for which he won a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award and Smashy and Nicey: End Of An Era.

Claudie Blakely returns to the Young Vic after appearing in Love and Money. Other theatre credits include: Rules for Living, Peter Pan, The Cherry Orchard, Attempts on Her Life (National Theatre); Macbeth, Lear (Sheffield Crucible), Chimerica (Almeida, West End), The Painkiller (Garrick Theatre), All's Well That Ends Well (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Seagull (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and Kosher Harry (Royal Court Theatre). Her film credits include: Bright Star, Severance, Pride & Prejudice, The Cat's Meow, Gosford Park and War Bride. Her television credits include: Larkrise To Candleford, Cranford, The Driver, Silent Witness, What Remains, The Night Watch and Marple.

John Marquez returns to the Young Vic following his appearances in Annie Get Your Gun and The Good Soul of Szechuan. His other theatre credits include: The Taming of the Shrew (Royal Shakespeare Company); Ding Dong the Wicked (Royal Court Theatre); The Emperor Jones, Market Boy (National Theatre); House of Games, The Hypochondriac (Almeida Theatre) and Privates on Parade (Noel Coward Theatre). His television credits include: Doc Martin, In the Club, Hotel Babylon, Death in Paradise and Suburban Shootout.

Richard Jones returns to the Young Vic after The Trial in 2015. Other Young Vic productions include: The Good Soul Of Szechuan, Annie Get Your Gun, The Government Inspector and Hobson's Choice. In addition to numerous West End and Broadway credits, theatre includes: The Hairy Ape (Old Vic) and Into the Woods (Phoenix Theatre) which won the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards. Richard's opera credits include: The Mastersingers of Nuremburg (ENO), winner of two Olivier Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Opera and Best New Opera production and Anna Nicole (Royal Opera House).

George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart first collaborated on Once in a Lifetime (1930), followed by seven other plays including Merrily We Roll Along (1934), You Can't Take It With You (1936, Pulitzer Prize), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939), and George Washington Slept Here (1940). Kaufman's other collaborators included Edna Ferber, the Gershwins (Of Thee I Sing, Pulitzer Prize) and the Marx Brothers. Hart collaborated with Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, among others, and wrote the best-selling memoir, Act One. Kaufman and Hart also directed much of their own work, and each won a Tony Award for Best Director: Kaufman for Guys and Dolls, Hart for My Fair Lady.

The Jerwood Assistant Director working with Richard Jones on Once in a Lifetime is Ben Mills. The role is supported through the Jerwood Assistant Directors Program at the Young Vic.

Once in a Lifetime by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, adapted by Christopher Hart and directed by Richard Jones, runs 25 November 2016 - 14 January 2017 in the Young Vic's Main House. It is designed by Hyemi Shin with costumes by Nicky Gillibrand, light by Jon Clark, sound by Sarah Angliss and casting by Julia Horan CDG.

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