Will Maggie Smith Return to the London Stage in The Lady from Dubuque?

Is Maggie Smith set to tread the London theatrical boards again? According to a report in The Daily Mail, Smith is in negotiations to star in Edward Albee's The Lady from Dubuque.

In The Lady from Dubuque, Jo and Sam are having a party. As the evening wears on, it becomes clear that under the thrust and parry of chatter, something dark is at rest behind Jo's biting humor. As the party is breaking up, an unexpected guest and her mysterious companion arrive. Will she bring Jo comfort? And are Jo and Sam ready to accept what this lady has to offer? The play made its Broadway debut in 1980 in a production that starred Irene Worth and lasted for 12 performances. Anthony Page, who most recently directed the revival of Albee's Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway and in the West End, is being sought to direct. If it goes ahead for a planned March 2007 bow, the production will reunite Smith with Page, who also directed her in the British premiere of Albee's Three Tall Women at Wyndham's Theatre in 1994.

Smith was last seen on the London stage in David Hare's The Breath of Life, in which she co-starred with Judi Dench at the Haymarket in 2002.