Noel Coward’s Volcano, Starring Jenny Seagrove, to Get West End Debut

Noel Coward's recently re-discovered play, Volcano, will make its West End premiere at the Vaudeville Theatre. Directed by Roy Marsden and starring Jenny Seagrove, Dawn Steele and Jason Durr, the production will play for seven weeks beginning August 14 and closing September 29.

In Volcano, recently widowed Adela Shelly (Seagrove) finds herself being seduced by the suave Guy Littleton (Durr), a visitor to her elegant Pacific house on the side of an island volcano. When Guy’s acid-tongued wife Melissa (Steele) decides to fly in to see off the competition, she hasn’t contemplated that Adela’s best friend, Ellen, might also be falling for her husband, and as tensions bubble up from under the surface and begin to erupt, so does the volcano, all with explosive consequences. Though written in 1956 with the intention of Katharine Hepburn to star as Adela, Volcano was never performed during Noel Coward’s lifetime.

Seagrove’s recent stage credits include The Country Girl and Bedroom Farce. She is best known as Jo Mills in the BBC series Judge John Deed. Steele is known for her work on the TV shows Wild at Heart and Monarch of the Glen. Durr starred for six seasons as Mike Bradley in the British series Heartbeat.

The trio of stars will be joined by Finty Williams, Perdita Avery, Tim Daish and Robin Sebastian. Volcano will feature set and costume design by Simon Scullion, lighting design by Mike Robertson and sound design by Matthew Bugg.