Omid Djalili to Star in What the Butler Saw in the West End

Omid Djalili will star as Dr. Rance in a West End revival of Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw, directed by Sean Foley. The new production will begin previews at the Vaudeville Theatre on May 4, and open on May 16, for a run through August 25. No other casting has yet been announced.

When psychoanalyst Dr. Prentice instructs his new secretary to undress, little does he expect to be interrupted by his wife, her blackmailing lover, a meddling government inspector and an inquisitive policeman. But hiding a naked woman is the least of his worries, as libidos run riot, identities are swapped and social decorum is buried. What the Butler Saw was Orton's final play. Completed in July 1967 (less than a month before his death), the comedy was first staged in March 1969 at the Queen’s Theatre in London.

Djalili is an award-winning British-Iranian actor/comedian. Not only acclaimed as one of Britain's funniest stand-up comedians, he has also been featured in films including The Mummy, Gladiator, Spy Game, Mean Machine, Modigliani, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Casanova, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, The Love Guru, The Infidel and Sex and the City 2. On television, his credits include Small Potatoes, Dinutopia, Whoopi and The Omid Djalili Show.