Antony Sher stars in the title role of Kean, by Jean-Paul Sartre, in a translation by Frank Hauser. Adrian Noble directs.

Drawn loosely from life, Edmund Kean is a pretender of the highest order, as Sartre described him "the actor who never ceased acting." His private life is a public performance, a tragic-comedy about a man with an insatiable appetite for romantic adventure, an ego as big as a stage and an inability to rescue himself from jeopardy.

Sartre's play is a passionate, sexy, funny, full-blooded experience for anyone who loves Shakespeare, the theatre and great adventure.

The play will open for a short season at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford on 29 March, where it will play until 7 April, followed by weeks at the Theatre Royal Bath (10-14 April), the Festival Theatre Malvern (17-21 April) and the Theatre Royal Brighton (24-28 April). Kean will subsequently open in the West End in May.