Best of Enemies

Best of Enemies description

About Best of Enemies

Best of Enemies is a seriously good play about televised political wrangling in 1960s America. It won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Best New Theatre Production and the Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play. It was nominated for two Olivier Awards after a run at the Young Vic. And now it’s being brought to the West End thanks to Second Half Productions, Eleanor Lloyd Productions, Wessex Grove, the Young Vic Theatre and Headlong. Wagner Johnson Productions is the Executive Producer.

As David Harewood, who plays William F. Buckley Junior, says, "I consider Best of Enemies to be one of the most enjoyable and challenging experiences of my whole career and I cannot wait to once again get under the skin of this uniquely complex character. Jeremy's brilliant direction and James's wonderful script combine to give both actor and audience a stimulating, thought-provoking and wildly entertaining evening out and I'm counting down the days to performing this show again in the West End."

Zachary Quinto, who plays Gore Vidal, says: "Living and working in London has long been an aspiration of mine. But to be making my West End debut in such a thrilling and relevant play - amongst such a distinguished creative team - and playing such a scorching and complex character as Gore Vidal - far exceeds my expectations of what living and working in London would look like... I'm full of gratitude and excitement. Best of Enemies harkens back to a vital time - when genuine discourse was possible from even the most opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. My hope is that such discourse may be once again rekindled in response to the work itself."

What's the story of Best of Enemies?

In 1968 America experienced a year of protest like no other. It divided the nation. Two media giants fought in parallel with the candidates for the US Presidential election and the eyes of the world were on them. Meet the cunningly conservative William F. Buckley Junior and the notorious liberal Gore Vidal. Beliefs are challenged and slurs thrown as the two media idols fight every night in a new television format, debating the moral landscape of a nation in shreds. They have no idea they are about to open up a new frontier in American politics and transform the TV news for good.

Who is starring in Best of Enemies?

Along with Harewood and Quinto, Deborah Alli, Emilio Doorgasingh, Clare Foster, Tom Godwin, John Hodgkinson, Syrus Lowe, Kevin McMonagle and Sam Otto who will each perform multiple roles within the play including Andy Warhol, James Baldwin, Patricia Buckley, Howard Austen, Aretha Franklin and Martin Luther-King. The ensemble includes David Boyle, Lincoln Conway, Vivienne Ekwulugo, Jamie Hogarth and Saaj Raja complete the cast.

Who is on the Best of Enemies creative team?

Best of Enemies is Designed by Bunny Christie, with Lighting Design by Jack Knowles, Sound Design by Tom Gibbons, Video Design by Max Spielbichler, Composition by Benjamin Kwasi Burrell, Movement Direction by Shelley Maxwell, Casting by Charlotte Sutton CDG (UK) and Jim Carnahan CSA (US), Voice and Dialect by Hazel Holder and Associate Direction by Annie Kershaw.

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Playing at Noel Coward Theatre (venue info)

Performance Times for Best of Enemies