The influx of American stars to London's West End is getting our home-grown thesps in a tizz. Rumour reaches me that, despite a successful regional tour, a production of Noël Coward's Present Laughter starring Simon Callow (pictured below) may not be getting its predicted West End berth - and cast members blame the paltry fees charged by Hollywood's finest.

Kathleen Turner, Christian Slater and Juliette Lewis are among the stars who have recently trodden the boards this side of the pond - far enough from LA to limit the career damage inflicted by any negative reviews. With their fat bank accounts, they are often prepared to work for Equity's minimum wage. This has led to wages becoming depressed across the board. Callow was, I hear, being offered less for the West End run than the £4,000 per week he earned on tour.

His agent, however, denies that the transfer has come unstuck for financial reasons. "Money is not the issue - he's doing a film," he says. "The play may still transfer in January."

Myleene Klass (pictured above right) is nothing if not a Renaissance woman. Having begun her career in the reality-TV band Hear'Say, she metamorphosed into a classical musician, amateur astronomer and presenter of the pop show CD:UK. Now I hear she is determined to make her mark as an actress, and has been visiting an array of drama production bigwigs with her manager, Jonathan Shalit. Well, if Billie Piper can do it, why not the formidable Myleene?

What's the story, Jackanory? The BBC delighted traditionalists when it announced last year that it would bring back the kids' storytelling show, axed in 1996 for being too old-fashioned.

But I learn that the book-and-a-rocking-chair format is to be replaced by a crack team of experts in computer-generated imagery. When the new show goes out on Christmas Day, the reader will be surrounded by animated Shrek-like figures performing the story. The BBC is determined to use the show's return to mark 60 years of children's TV with a look to the future, in what may well be the most expensive children's programme ever.

The actor Michael Gambon is well known for his practical jokes. Playing Othello in a 1990 production, he was known to mutter, "Shampoo! Shampoo and set," as he drowned Iago. More recently, he put a fart machine in Harry Potter's sleeping bag. So it is little wonder that Sonia Friedman, producer of Samuel Beckett's Eh Joe, in which Gambon stars at the Duke of York's Theatre this month, is feeling vaguely apprehensive. "I can't imagine how he'll do it. In the play, his character has to sit without speaking in his room as a voice speaks to him in a running monologue," she tells me. "But I'm sure he'll think of something."

Nick Hornby is leaving his semi-autobiographical tales of Islington and football behind him. He's done a female narrator (How to Be Good), and is also fabulously moving in his latest, A Long Way Down. I gather his next tome will be a novel that looks at teenage pregnancy - from the boy's perspective.

Post your comment

Please note: you will need to login or register before you can comment on the website