Second Half Productions, Eleanor Lloyd Productions, Wessex Grove, Young Vic Theatre and Headlong have released brand new production images for Best of Enemies, which is playing a limited run at the Noël Coward Theatre until 18 February.
Zachary Quinto (The Boys in the Band, American Horror Story, Star Trek) makes his West End debut as Gore Vidal in James Graham’s (Sherwood, Quiz, This House) award-winning new play Best of Enemies opposite David Harewood (Homeland, Super Girl, Ten Percent) who is reprising his role as William F. Buckley Jr.
Directed by Jeremy Herrin (People, Places & Things, Wolf Hall Trilogy, This House), Best of Enemies began previews at the Noël Coward Theatre on 14 November and will have its opening night on 28 November. This sold-out hit from the Young Vic Theatre and Headlong originally premiered at the Young Vic in December 2021. Tickets are now on sale at www.bestofenemiesplay.com starting from £15 with over 30,000 at £35 and under available throughout the run.
1968 – a year of protest that divided America. As two men fight to become the next President, all eyes are on the battle between two others: the cunningly conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and the iconoclastic liberal Gore Vidal. Beliefs are challenged and slurs slung as these political idols feud nightly in a new television format, debating the moral landscape of a shattered nation. Little do they know they’re about to open up a new frontier in American politics, and transform television news forever…
Completing the cast are Deborah Alli, Emilio Doorgasingh, Clare Foster, Tom Godwin, John Hodgkinson, Syrus Lowe, Kevin McMonagle and Sam Otto who will each perform multiple roles within the play including Andy Warhol, James Baldwin, Patricia Buckley, Howard Austen, Aretha Franklin and Martin Luther-King. The ensemble includes David Boyle, Lincoln Conway, Vivienne Ekwulugo, Jamie Hogarth and Saaj Raja.
Written by James Graham and Directed by Jeremy Herrin, Best of Enemies is Designed by Bunny Christie, with Lighting Design by Jack Knowles, Sound Design by Tom Gibbons, Video Design by Max Spielbichler, Composition by Benjamin Kwasi Burrell, Movement Direction by Shelley Maxwell, Casting by Charlotte Sutton CDG (UK) and Jim Carnahan CSA (US), Voice and Dialect by Hazel Holder and Associate Direction by Annie Kershaw.
Best of Enemies won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Best New Theatre Production and the Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play and was also nominated for two Olivier Awards following its run at the Young Vic. This production is brought to the West End by Second Half Productions, Eleanor Lloyd Productions, Wessex Grove, the Young Vic Theatre and Headlong. Wagner Johnson Productions are Executive Producers.
