British actress Judi Dench is to share the stage with her daughter for the first time in a play set on general election day that will be broadcast live as the polls close on May 7.
Dench and Finty Williams will play a mother and daughter going to cast their ballots in "The Vote", which runs for two weeks at London's 250-seat Donmar Warehouse theatre.
The play is set in a fictional London polling station in the last 90 minutes before the polls close -- and will be broadcast live at that exact time on election day.
"I'm going to be performing in it with my daughter in a mother and daughter role and I'm absolutely thrilled about it," Dench said on Friday.
Besides the 80-year-old Oscar-winning actress and Williams, playwright James Graham's show also stars veteran actor Timothy West and comedienne Catherine Tate.
"Broadcast live to the nation on the night of the general election, this is a unique opportunity for the Donmar to make a small theatre feel very big," said the theatre's artistic director Josie Rourke.
"Some of the nation's greatest actors are coming together this election night to give theatre a seat at the table of a national event. Everyone involved is approaching this experiment with a sense of adventure.
"This huge acting company will be portraying a 90-minute slice of our nation as it goes to the polls."
Dench, who has been nominated for an Oscar seven times, has not appeared at the Donmar since 1976.
Opinion polls suggest the general election will be a tight contest between Prime Minister David Cameron's centre-right Conservatives and the centre-left Labour opposition to win, though bookmakers predict neither party can secure a majority.
Source: AFP