Michael Sheen in Frost/Nixon

The piece looks at David Frost’s interviews with Richard Nixon, which drew the largest audience of a news interview ever. Could this British talk-show host, with no known political convictions and a playboy reputation, be the one to elicit an apology from the man who committed one of the biggest felonies in American political history?

Langella and Sheen lead the cast as Richard Nixon and David Frost, respectively. They are joined by Elliot Cowan, Amerjit Deu, Corey Johnson, Lydia Leonard, Vincent Marzello, Kate Roscoe, Kerry Shale and Rufus Wright.

Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon

The play opened at the Donmar on 15 August to a warm critical reception. In his Theatre.com Review, Matt Wolf wrote: “The face has it—Frank Langella's, that is—and that will be enough for many when it comes to Frost/Nixon, a facile if entertaining enough play lifted out of its over-expository rut courtesy of Langella's revelatory reading of America's late, disgraced 37th president. Why the face? Because television and film writer Peter Morgan's debut play builds to a tête-à-tête whose impact depends on a held close-up in full confessional mode (Morgan is enough of a dab celluloid hand to allow video to do its bit) of the two-time Tony winner… Throw in a typically astute, uncaricatured turn by Welshman Michael Sheen as the master interlocutor David (now Sir David) Frost, and you have a play whose stars command attention even if the writing sometimes does not… A thriller whose denouement is preordained, Frost/Nixon fields the genuine thrill that comes when two actors from either side of the pond lock horns in a battle that—unlike their forbears—Langella and Sheen both win.”

Frost/Nixon plays at the Donmar to 7 October. The engagement at the Gielgud Theatre will play a limited season to 3 February. As previously reported, the production is eyeing a Broadway transfer and a screen adaptation.