Toby Stephens to Headline The Real Thing at the Old Vic

Toby Stephens will star in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing at the Old Vic Theatre. Previews will begin on April 10, 2010. Directed by Anna Mackmin, the production opens April 21. Additional casting will be announced shortly.

In The Real Thing, Henry (Stephens) is a successful and talented playwright married to Charlotte, an actress playing the lead in his current work about adultery. Her co-star and friend Max, is married to Annie, also an actor. Henry and Annie have fallen in love, but is it any more real than the subjects in Henry’s play? As the story unravels, Henry discovers that love—the real thing—can be unpredictable and painful.

The Real Thing was last staged in the West End in 2000 after transferring from the Donmar Warehouse. The production starred Stephen Dillane and Jennifer Ehle as Henry and Annie, both of whom won Tony Awards when the production transfered to Broadway following its London run.

Stephens was most recently seen on stage in A Doll’s House (Donmar) and The Country Wife, directed by Jonathan Kent (Theatre Royal Haymarket). Other stage credits include Peter Hall's production of Tartuffe at the Playhouse Theatre, Phedre (Almeida and Brooklyn Academy of Music), Betrayal (Donmar) and A Streetcar Named Desire (Theatre Royal Haymarket). Work at the Royal Shakespeare Company includes Hamlet, Measure for Measure, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, Wallenstein, All's Well That Ends Well and Coriolanus. A regular on the big and small screen, the actor's television credits include Jane Eyre, Cambridge Spies, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Wired, Vexed and The Camomile Lawn. His film work includes Severance, Orlando, Die Another Day and The Great Gatsby.

The creative team for The Real Thing includes sets and costumes by Lez Brotherston, lights by Hugh Vanstone and sound by Simon Baker.