Hollywood stars and the public sector are rarely mentioned in the same breath. But thanks to dramatist Stephen Poliakoff, that is about to change. Multimillionaire, comedian and Hollywood actress Tracey Ullman is to return to the British stage after a 20-year absence in a new play by Poliakoff about the importance of teachers and the public service ethos in our lives.
The British star, who established herself as a household name in America in the 1980s, is returning to appear in My City, which will open at London's Almeida theatre early in September. It will be Poliakoff's first theatrical work for 12 years, following his acclaimed television dramas Shooting the Past and The Lost Prince.
The award-winning writer wrote the "powerful and surprising" play before news of the cuts in education, but intends it as a celebration of the value of public servants. "I didn't write in response to what was happening," he told the Observer, "but it is clearly a relevant subject at the moment. It is a look at London now and at the people that affect you greatly, at people who have given all their lives to public service."
Rehearsals with Ullman will begin next month. The 51-year-old, who comes from Slough, is to play a former primary school headteacher.
"It is set in contemporary London, so I am returning to the urban world that I first wrote about in the 1970s," said Poliakoff. "It is about two 30-year-olds going back to meet up with their teachers. These were people who had been very helpful to them when they were young because they were dyslexic, but of course, when they meet again they feel rather differently about the whole thing and have this slightly hallucinatory evening together."
The playwright, 58, has written chiefly about the past in recent years, including his 2009 film Glorious 39, which was set on the eve of the second world war. But, he said, "looking at the contemporary world feels right again now".
Poliakoff saw Ullman's early work in London theatre before her television success in this country and in America, where her popular comedy show launched The Simpsons on an unsuspecting world in 1987. His new play, the writer has already made clear, is an ensemble piece and "not the Tracy Ullman show".
"It is about the power of storytelling and the stories that affect you," he said. "The teacher Ullman plays turns out to be a darker character than they remembered. Some teachers, we all know, are terrible and some are great and have an extraordinary effect. You are partly reduced to a child again, even though you are an adult."
This week will see the launch of the playwright's latest film, Astonish Me, an atmospheric short piece for the Worldwide Fund for Nature, which stars Bill Nighy. The film centres on the idea that without prompt action we stand to lose species of animals that we have not even discovered yet. "There are new animals being discovered all the time – the colossal squid was only found recently, as was the world's longest insect, Chan's megastick from Borneo. And they are still finding new monkeys, cats and lizards, every category of animal. This is extraordinary in the 21st century, when the world is as crowded as this one is."
For Poliakoff the two writing projects, both underline the value of assets that are in peril.
