Take a bow: Madonna, the latest lucky star set for London stage

First Nicole Kidman, now Madonna. Clearly the lure of low wages, dowdy dressing-rooms and only one night off a week is too much to resist.

Madonna, 41, is the latest global celebrity – and the biggest of them – to trade riches and a mass audience for the kudos of appearing in a play at a London theatre.

The ceaseless quest of British theatre to attract the under-thirties should be achieved for a couple of months at least this spring when Madonna opens for a 10-week run at the Wyndham's Theatre, Leicester Square.

She will play an ambitious art dealer in the comedy Up For Grabs, a satire on the art world by the Australian playwright David Williamson, which opens on 23 May.

It is the singer's first time on the theatrical stage in London, although she has acted on Broadway. She appeared there in 1988 in David Mamet's Speed the Plow. When she left the role, audiences fell drastically.

The star's publicist said yesterday that Madonna wanted a fresh challenge and the chance to remain at home in London.