Daryl Hannah Faces Her Fear

Daryl Hannah is facing her lifelong fear of the stage to tread the boards in a West End play. The 39-year-old Splash star is to take on the Marilyn Monroe role in a stage version of The Seven Year Itch, following such Hollywood stars as Kathleen Turner and Nicole Kidman onto the London stage. ‘I am finally going to confront the fear, the enormous, overwhelming stage fright which has dominated my entire life,’ confessed Hannah to The Guardian. ‘It’s one of those things – either I’ll survive it or I won’t.’ When invited to star in the show by director Mike Radford, Hannah’s initial response was to refuse, saying, ‘I’ll pass out’. Radford had been impressed by Hannah’s stage skills when he worked with her on the semi-improvised film Dancing at the Blue Iguana. ‘She’ll survive it,’ he said. ‘She’s an absolute stage natural – wonderful stage presence, wonderful comic timing.’ The Seven Year Itch, based on the 1955 film, opens at the Queen’s Theatre (020 7494 5040) on 10 October for a 10-week run.