Donmar Warehouse Announce Kiss Of Spider Woman

Iain Glen will join Rupert Evans in the upcoming Donmar Warehouse revival of Kiss of the Spider Woman, in their version of a new translation by Allan Baker of Argentine Manurl Puig's play about inmates in a Latin American jail. Following their sell-out tour last year with Ian McKellen in Mark Ravenhill's The Cut, the Donmar return with Kiss of the Spider Woman at the Liverpool Playhouse from Tuesday 29 May until Saturday 2 June 2007.

When two men are forced to share a cell, an unlikely relationship is formed. Valentin (Rupert Evans) is a young Marxist rebel punished for his ideals, Molina (Glen) a middle-aged man condemned for his sexuality. Molina reinvents stories of films he loves, including the one of the title, and the cynical Valentin listens. Valentin believes in a just cause which makes all suffering bearable. Molina believes in the magic of love which makes all else endurable. Each has always been alone, and always - especially now - in danger of betrayal.

Iain Glen was nominated for this year's Olivier Awards for his portrayal of John Proctor in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Arthur Miller-tribute production of The Crucible. His previous Donmar appearance was in 1998 opposite Nicole Kidman in David Hare's The Blue Room. Other stage credits include the National Theatre's production of A Streetcar Named Desire with Glenn Close.

Kiss of the Spider Woman was first performed by Simon Callow and Mark Rylance at West London's Bush Theatre in 1985. The subsequent film won its star William Hurt a Best Actor Oscar, while Kander and Ebb's 1993 Broadway musical version, with a book by Terrence McNally, won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The Donmar production is directed by Charlotte Westenra and designed by Ben Stones with lighting by Hartley TA Kemp and sound by John Leonard. -- www.everymanplayhouse.com