This morning The National Theatre have announced their new season of shows. Here’s what’s coming up…
Olivier Theatre
Small Island, a new play adapted by Helen Edmundson from Andrea Levy’s Orange Prize-winning bestselling novel, will open in the Olivier Theatre in May. Directed by Rufus Norris, the play journeys from Jamaica to Britain through the Second World War to 1948, the year the HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury. Small Island follows the intricately connected stories of Hortense, newly arrived in London, landlady Queenie and servicemen Gilbert and Bernard. Hope and humanity meet stubborn reality as, with epic sweep, the play uncovers the tangled history of Jamaica and the UK. Hundreds of tickets for every performance available at £15. Small Island will be broadcast live to cinemas worldwide as part of NT Live.
Peter Gynt, by David Hare after Henrik Ibsen, will open in the Olivier Theatre in July in a co-production with Edinburgh International Festival, directed by Jonathan Kent, with set and costume design by Richard Hudson. David Hare kidnaps Ibsen’s most famous hero and runs away with him into the 21st century, where he’s propelled into a free-wheeling world of music, dance, poetry, weddings, coronations, trolls and two-headed children. James McArdle takes the title role in this epic new production following his acclaimed performances in Platonov and Angels in America. He is reunited with David Hare and Jonathan Kent, the team behind the triumphant Young Chekhov at Chichester Festival Theatre and the NT. Peter Gynt will transfer to Edinburgh for the International Festival in August 2019.
Lyttelton Theatre
A ferocious new version of Molière’s comic masterpiece, Tartuffe, by John Donnelly, will open in February. Directing this classic European comedy, Blanche McIntyre makes her NT debut. Orgon is the man who has everything: money, power, a beautiful home and family. But lately he’s been questioning the point of it all. When he invites the irresistible Tartuffe into his seemingly perfect household, he unleashes a whirlwind of deception and seduction that threatens everything. With Orgon under Tartuffe’s spell, can his family outwit this charismatic trickster? Are Tartuffe’s wild claims truth or fiction? This mysterious stranger may not be quite the villain he appears. A scalpel-sharp comedy looking at the lengths we go to to find meaning – and what happens when we find chaos instead. With set and costume design by Robert Jones, lighting design by Oliver Fenwick and music and sound design by Ben and Max Ringham. Tartuffe previews from 9 February, with a press night on 21 February, on sale until 30 April with further performances to be announced. Hundreds of tickets for every performance available at £15.
For the first time the NT stages Top Girls, Caryl Churchill’s wildly innovative play about a country divided by its own ambitions. Collaborating for the first time since Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, NT Associate Lyndsey Turner directs. Marlene is the first woman to head the Top Girls employment agency. But she has no plans to stop there. With Maggie in at Number 10 and a spirit of optimism consuming the country, Marlene knows that the future belongs to women like her. With set design by Ian MacNeil, costume design by Merle Hensel, lighting design by Jack Knowles and sound design by Christopher Shutt. Top Girls previews from 26 March, with a press night on 3 April, on sale until 22 April with further performances to be announced.
Last performed at the NT 25 years ago, Githa Sowerby’s revolutionary Rutherford and Son, directed by Polly Findlay, opens in May. Set against the backdrop of the industrial north east, Rutherford and Son features Roger Allam as the bullish Rutherford, whose tyranny over his children collides with their own hopes for their future, in this searing depiction of generational warfare and class discrimination. With set and costume design by Lizzie Clachan, and sound design by Paul Arditti.
Hansard, the debut play from actor Simon Woods which opens in September, tells the story of Robin and Diana, a married couple reckoning with a fundamental difference they cannot resolve. What starts as witty ribbing and the familiar tracks of marital scrapping turns to blood-sport, and a shared howl of regret. Directed by NT Associate Simon Godwin, Hansard looks at personal and political responsibility and our collective accountability for the lives changed by the votes we make. Lindsay Duncan and Alex Jennings return to the NT to play Diana and Robin.
Inua Ellams returns to the NT in the autumn with a new play, Three Sisters, after Chekhov, in a co-production with Fuel. Directed by Theatre Royal Stratford East Artistic Director, Nadia Fall, Three Sisters transports the play to 1960s Nigeria, before, during and after the Biafran Civil War. Originally commissioned by Metta Theatre. Hundreds of tickets for every performance available at £15.
Dorfman Theatre
When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, Twelve Variations on Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, will preview from 16 January, with a press night on 23 January, playing until 2 March. Martin Crimp’s play breaks through the surface of contemporary debate to explore the messy, often violent nature of desire, and the fluid, complicated roles that men and women play. Using Richardson’s novel as a provocation, six characters act out a dangerous game of sexual domination and resistance. Directed by Katie Mitchell, Cate Blanchett makes her National Theatre debut alongside Stephen Dillane. The cast also includes Babirye Bukilwa, Jessica Gunning, Emma Hindle and Craig Miller. With set design by Vicki Mortimer, costume design by Sussie Juhlin-Wallén, lighting design by James Farncombe, sound design by Melanie Wilson and movement direction by Joseph Alford. Tickets will go on sale via a ballot which opens on 22 November at 12 pm.
In a co-production with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Pulitzer Prize-winning ensemble member Bruce Norris’ fiery, provocative new play Downstate, comes to the NT direct from its debut at Steppenwolf, Chicago. In downstate Illinois, four men convicted of sex crimes against minors share a group home where they live out their lives in the shadow of the offences they committed. A man shows up to confront his childhood abuser – but does he want closure or retribution? Downstate zeroes in on the limits of our compassion and what happens when society deems anyone beyond forgiveness. Directed by Tony Award® winner Pam MacKinnon, the American and British cast includes Steppenwolf ensemble members Glenn Davis, K. Todd Freeman, Francis Guinan and Tim Hopper, together with Aimee Lou Wood, Cecilia Noble, Eddie Torres and Matilda Ziegler. With set design by Todd Rosenthal, costume design by Clint Ramos, lighting design by Adam Silverman and sound design by Carolyn Downing. Downstate previews from 12 March, with a press night on 20 March, playing until 27 April.
ANNA, a ground-breaking new sonic collaboration created by Ella Hickson and Ben and Max Ringham, opens in the Dorfman Theatre in May. This headphone-based sound thriller will give the audience intimate access to communist East Berlin. Set over one night in 1968, a promising young couple have their love tested by increasing pressure from the state. When crimes of the past and the present blur, who can be trusted? Everyone is listening. ANNA is directed by Natalie Abrahami, with set and costume designed by Vicki Mortimer and movement by Anna Morrissey.
Based on the hilariously anarchic ‘Mr Gum’ children’s book, Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear – the Musical! opens in the summer. With book and lyrics by the author, Andy Stanton, music by Jim Fortune, directed by Amy Hodge, and set and costume design by Georgia Lowe, it promises an all-singing, all-dancing, occasionally-burping extravaganza for children and adults alike. Can nine-year-old Polly get Padlock the bear to safety? Or will the villainous Mr Gum and his sidekick Billy William III prevail? Full of bizarre characters, surreal whimsy and songs, this is definitely not your average family fare.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Annie Baker returns to the Dorfman Theatre in October with the European premiere of her play The Antipodes, directed by Lila Neugebauer, making her NT debut. A play about stories and the people who tell them, The Antipodes follows the acclaimed runs of The Flick and John at the NT. The Antipodes features set and costume design by Chloe Lamford.
Richard Pryor on Fire, a one-man play written by and featuring Lenny Henry as the legendary American comedian, directed by Paulette Randall, will open in the Dorfman Theatre in 2020.
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