Al Pacino will return to Broadway in Mamet's China Doll

Two-time Tony Award and Oscar winner Al Pacino is getting set to return to the Great White Way for another collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet in his new drama China Doll, which will be directed by Tony winner Pam Mackinnon.

The play is expected to begin performances in October 2015 at a yet unnamed Shubert Theatre.

According to Mamet, China Doll is a play about "a wealthy man, his young fiance, and an airplane. The man has just bought a new plane as a wedding present for the girl. He intends to go into semi-retirement, and enjoy himself. He's in the process of leaving his office, and is giving last minute instructions to his young assistant. He takes one last phone call. The characters are Mickey Ross, a billionaire; Carson, the assistant, and a telephone."

He then added: "I wrote it for Al. It is better than oral sex."

Mr Pacino also commented: "For me over the years the relationship and the collaboration with David Mamet has been one of the richest and most rewarding. We've done four projects together and the opportunity to create a new character in the David Mamet canon was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. So Dave gave me China Doll, a new play he had written for me and it blew me away - one of the most daunting and challenging roles I've been given to explore onstage. It's a special gift to originate a role in the theatre, especially written by such a formidable writer and I haven't done that in a long, long time."

Additional casting will be announced in the coming months.

China Doll will be produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, and Steve Traxler and will mark their eighth presentation of a David Mamet work.

Al Pacino won Tony Awards in 1969 and 1977 for 'Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?' and 'The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel', respectively. He was also nominated in 2011 for 'The Merchant of Venice'. He was last seen on Broadway in David Mamet's 'Glengarry Glen Ross', and other Broadway credits include 'Salome', 'Hughie', 'Chinese Coffee', Mamet's 'American Buffalo', 'King Richard III', and 'Camino Real'. He won an Academy Award in 1993 for 'Scent of a Woman' and has been nominated a further seven times. His many film credits include 'The Godfather trilogy', 'Heat', 'Scarface', 'Angels in America', 'Dick Tracy', 'Any Given Sunday', 'Donnie Brasco' and '...And Justice For All'.

- by Tom Millward