A day in the death of Joe Egg
Writer: Peter Nichols
Director: Laurence Boswell
From December 5th 2001 until February 9th, 2002, Eddie appeared in Peter Nichol's bittersweet comedy, A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg, at the Comedy Theatre in London's West End.
The play (first performed at the Glasgow Citizen's Theatre in 1967 before transferring to London's West End that same year, where it won the Evening Standard Award as Best Play of the Year) focuses on Bri, a young father struggling to come to terms with the burden of caring for his severely brain-damaged daughter, nicknamed Joe Egg. Eddie took over from Clive Owen and joined existing cast members Victoria Hamilton (as wife Sheila) and Prunella Scales (as Bri's mother, Grace).
Between March and June 2003, Eddie (making his Broadway debut) and Victoria Hamilton reprised their roles as Bri and Sheila in a Broadway production of the play (first staged in the USA in 1968 with Albert Finney and Zena Walker, and again in 1985 by the Roundabout Theatre Company, with Jim Dale and Stockard Channing in the title roles).
Eddie and Victoria were joined by Dana Ivey, Margaret Colin, Michael Gaston and Madeleine Martin in the production at the American Airlines Theatre, West 42nd Street. Laurence Boswell directed the production, which was again produced by Roundabout Theatre Company.
A recorded performance of the show was transmitted on BBC4 on 13th March 2002.
"...starring Eddie Izzard in a role he was born to play," New York Times
"...That's the kind of freshness that comes only when a performer's affinity for a role is like a blood tie. And that's exactly what Mr. Izzard and Ms. Hamilton, directed by Laurence Boswell, bring to their interpretations of Mr. Nichols play...," New York Times
"When the peformances are so sonorously on key as Ms. Hamilton's and Mr. Izzard's, whether it's good faith or bad faith that's being expressed, it's impossible not to melt in empathy," New York Times
"Peter Nichols' narrator is brought to magnificent life by the comedian Eddie Izzard," The New Yorker .
