Skylight, Wyndham's Theatre

What do you get when you cross an Oscar nominated writer, a Tony award winning director, and two of Britain’s most successful Hollywood exports? This summer’s production of Skylight at the Wyndham Theatre of course....

The play sees Bill Nighy take on the role of newly-widowed restaurateur Tom, who arrives at the home of his much younger former lover Kyra (Carey Mulligan) in the hope of rekindling their relationship. It is directed by Stephen Daldry, most recently recognisable as the man behind last year’s acclaimed production of The Audience.

The star power of Skylight ensures that the Wyndham has a sell-out show on their hands, yet Daldry isn’t one to go famous for the sake of it; both of his Hollywood stars have also proven their salt on the stage. 

Nighy is returning home to the West End after a thirteen year absence. His appearance in Skylight itself also marks a return – he previously inherited the role of Tom from Michael Gambon in the play’s first West End outing. 

Mulligan is also no stranger to the stage, most notably in the role of Nina in The Seagull at The Royal Court before a Broadway transfer, but, somewhat surprisingly, Skylight marks her West End debut. 

Writer David Hare’s work can be almost filmic in its subtle exploration of human emotion and realistic action (we are particularly excited to see the moment where Mulligan’s Kyra must cook a real spaghetti dinner on stage) and so for Daldry to use a cast of actors accustomed to the film genre could be a stroke of genius. We know that Daldry can do great things with Hare’s scripts (Oscar winning films The Reader and The Hours were the result of their collaborations) and with talent like Nighy and Mulligan on board, Skylight is a must-see. The superlative reviews are proving that this show certainly lives up to the hype. There's only a handful of tickets left, so book quickly.