It’s been announced that Olivier Award winner and Miranda star Patricia Hodge will join the cast of Peter Nichols’ funny and moving masterpiece A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. Hodge will star opposite Toby Stephens (Oslo, Lost in Space) and Claire Skinner (Outnumbered, The Father). The production opens at London’s Trafalgar Studios on 21 September.
Hodge made her West End debut under the watchful eye of Bob Fosse in Pippin at The National Theatre and has starred in classics like Look Back In Anger and A Little Night Music. Hodge has received three Olivier Award nominations and won the 2000 Olivier Award for her performance in Money at the National Theatre. Best known recently for playing Penny, the hilarious middle-class mother in the BAFTA-nominated television series Miranda (BBC One), Hodge has also enjoyed an illustrious career on the small screen. Her numerous TV roles have seen her star in iconic shows like Downton Abbey, Rumpole Of The Bailey Hodge and more recently the Golden Globe nominated A Very English Scandal.
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg is Peter Nichols’ powerful and moving play about the issues faced by two parents raising a disabled child – which was inspired by his own experience of bringing up his disabled daughter. This new production, directed by Simon Evans (Killer Joe, Arturo Ui), reunites Stephens and Skinner after 18 years and Hodge now joins the duo taking on the role of Bri’s mum Grace.
Patricia Hodge said: “This play was ground breaking in the 1960s. We live in different times but its relevance and impact is ever more powerful. I am delighted to be joining Toby and Claire to tell the story on the West End stage, in this new production of Peter Nichols’ profound and moving play.”
This startlingly funny, celebrated play – which will break your heart one minute and fill it with warmth the next – is in the West End for a limited season until Saturday 30 November. Further casting will be announced soon.
