The Unexpected Man, City Hall Theatre, 8 p.m. January 31, February 1, 2

The Unexpected Man, directed by Bermudian Broadway director Joel Froomkin, opens tonight at the Bermuda Festival.

“The Festival is thrilled to have Bermudian Joel Froomkin come ‘home' to effectively transcribe this intriguing play of words from the page to the stage,” said Geoffrey Moore, Festival chairman. “The prodigal son returns after a seven year sojourn into the theatre world, embracing both sides of the Atlantic.”

‘The Unexpected Man' is a play, written by Yasmina Reza, about unexpected encounters. The two main characters are a novelist (Emmy award winner Charles Shaughnessy), and his literary fan, (Broadway stalwart, Judy Kuhn) who find themselves together in a train car on a long trip to Frankfurt, Germany.

The author's latest book, ‘The Unexpected Man', is in her handbag. She cannot pull it out to read it in fear that his reaction would be embarrassing or disappointing. What will she do? Will she speak to him? It takes 50 minutes for him to break the silence, 60 for her to start reading his book and roughly 73 for them to acknowledge who they are and what they feel.

Nancy Franklin of ‘The New Yorker' wrote, “It's one thing to write dialogue that works: Reza managed to write thoughts that work - the characters' streams of words share an in-and-out-of-focus quality, and yet are as crucially unalike and individual as keys that look the same but open different doors.”

Jonathan Kalb of the ‘New York Press' said of ‘The Unexpected Man' “...this is a compelling work, a pungent and perceptive inquiry into the strange links between desire, invention and self-invention.”

This is not the first time one of Reza's plays have been performed in the Bermuda Festival. In 2002, her play, ‘Art' with a cast of local actors, impressed Festival-goers.

The role of the novelist's fan was originally supposed to be played by Harriet Harris but she had to cancel at the last minute because of the demands of appearing in the new hit television programme

‘Desperate Housewives'.