Actors to stage show for peace

Some of the biggest names in theatre are to appear together on stage for a one-off anti-war show.

Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Alison Steadman, Adrian Lester, Sian Phillips, Samantha Bond and Lindsay Duncan are just a few of the West End names set to share the limelight on Sunday 23 March at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The London Concert For Peace is the brainchild of Janie Dee, who starred in last year's Evening Standard Best Musical-nominated My One And Only.

Dee said: "This is about making a stand for peace. We are doing what we can do best to express our profound unhappiness at the prospect of this war - and what we can do is bring some excellent performance to the stage in the name of peace."

In all, more than a hundred of Britain's best actors will take to the stage.

The entire casts of Blood Brothers and Sir Trevor Nunn's Anything Goes will be there, as will the awardwinning combination of Joanna Riding and Alex Jennings, both stars of My Fair Lady.

Mark Rylance, Arabella Weir, Sally Burgess, Dame Judi's daughter Finty Williams, Maria Friedman and Emily Bruni will also be among the theatrical talent on show.

But as well as acting expertise, some of theatre's best writers - Sir Alan Ayckbourn, Harold Pinter and Patrick Marber - will parade their anti-war stance by unveiling new work penned especially for the occasion.