22 AUGUST 2002
Model turned actress Jerry Hall is leaving the famed stages of the West End for a much more modest setting. The statuesque Texan, who portrayed The Graduate’s iconic Mrs Robinson in London last year, will now tread the boards in front of an audience of just 85 at the New End Theatre in Hampstead.

In the comedic love story Benchmark, which opens September 13, Jerry plays a Hollywood star who is reunited with her two down-and-out ex-husbands on a Los Angeles park bench. Calling the play “beautifully written”, the actress says: “I hope it will transfer to the West End.”

Meanwhile, she points out, the “lovely” New End theatre, which has just two dressing rooms and only one entrance and exit, has its own perks. “I’ve never done a small theatre before but I think it will be a lovely experience,” says Jerry. “And I won’t have to talk so loud.”

Mick Jagger’s 46-year-old ex, who chose the role in part because it fits around her four children’s holiday schedules, is also balancing her work with her school commitments as a student in an Open University course in humanities. “I’m a bit worried about my next essay,” she admits, “but it’s about the Sixties and about music and art, so I think I might have some friends who can help me with that.”