Kilmer applauds 'well-read Brits'

Kilmer will co-star with young British actress Charlotte Emmerson

Actor Val Kilmer has praised British theatregoers ahead of his London stage debut next month, describing them as "smarter" than their US counterparts.

"The audience is very sophisticated and probably the most well-read on earth," said the 45-year-old Top Gun star.

"The standard keeps deteriorating on Broadway," he continued. "The shows have become more Vegas-like."

Kilmer plays a murderous drifter in The Postman Always Rings Twice, which runs at the Playhouse Theatre from 24 May.

British actress Charlotte Emmerson co-stars as Cora, the role played on screen by Lana Turner in 1946 and Jessica Lange in 1981.

'Genius'

The actor joins a growing list of Hollywood stars set to tread the boards in London this year.

Former Friends actor David Schwimmer is to make his West End debut in May in Neil LaBute's new play Some Girls, while Brooke Shields begins a nine-week run in Chicago this week.

Lowe will play the role Tom Cruise played in the 1992 film version

Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor will shortly be appearing in Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly, while Rob Lowe will star in A Few Good Men at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in August.

The show will mark a new collaboration with West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin following Lowe's high-profile departure from the show in 2002.

However, the former 'Brat Pack' member has insisted that "there was never a problem between us".

"I try to make it a policy to stay on good terms with the few geniuses I know in the world," he told US industry paper Variety.

A Few Good Men follows Acorn Antiques into the Haymarket. The Victoria Wood musical ends its 16-week run on 21 May.