So much goodness announced here in the National Theatre’s near future – particularly excited for Nine Night’s transfer, what looks like a leading role for Siân Brooke and the prospect of Joanna Riding’s ‘Losing My Mind’.
National Theatre Season: July 2018 – January 2019
Nine Night, Natasha Gordon’s critically acclaimed debut play transfers to the West End following a sold-out run at the NT
Further cast announced for Antony and Cleopatra alongside Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo, playing from September
Cast confirmed for world premiere of David Hare’s new play I’m Not Running, including Siân Brooke, Alex Hassell and Joshua McGuire
Peter Brook returns to direct at the National Theatre for the first time in 50 years with The Prisoner, co-directed with Marie-Hélène Estienne
Following the acclaimed Consent, Nina Raine returns to the NT with her new play Stories starring Claudie Blakley
Anthony Neilson makes his NT debut with new play The Tell-Tale Heart, based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe
Alexander Hanson and Joanna Riding to join the cast of Follies alongside Janie Dee and Peter Forbes, returning to the Olivier Theatre in February 2019
War Horse returns to the NT marking the centenary of Armistice Day
Antony and Cleopatra and I’m Not Running to broadcast to 65 countries worldwide as part of NT Live
To mark the 100th anniversary of the first women in the UK gaining the right to vote, the NT stages Courage Everywhere; a series of rehearsed readings, talks and screenings
Olivier Theatre
ANTONY & CLEOPATRA
by William Shakespeare
Previews from 18 September, in repertoire until 19 January
Caesar and his assassins are dead. General Mark Antony now rules alongside his fellow defenders of Rome. But at the fringes of a war-torn empire the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra and Mark Antony have fallen fiercely in love.
In a tragic fight between devotion and duty, obsession becomes a catalyst for war. Politics and passion are violently intertwined in Shakespeare’s gripping tale of power.
Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo play the famous fated couple. Simon Godwin (Twelfth Night) directs.
Cast also includes Fisayo Akinade, Alexander Cobb, Tunji Kasim, Georgia Landers, Nicholas Le Prevost, Tim McMullan, Hannah Morrish, Shazia Nicholls, Gloria Obianyo, Nick Sampson, Katy Stephens and Sargon Yelda with further cast to be announced.
Directed by Simon Godwin, set designs by Hildegard Bechtler, costume designs by Wojciech Dziedzic, lighting designs by Tim Lutkin, music by Michael Bruce, movement direction by Jonathan Goddard and Shelley Maxwell, sound design by Christopher Shutt, video design by Luke Halls and fight direction by Kev McCurdy.
Production supported by Areté Foundation / Betsy & Ed Cohen, Mary M. Miner, Leila Maw Straus, Shawn M. Donnelley and Christopher M. Kelly, Monica Gerard-Sharp, and the Antony & Cleopatra production appeal.
Official Hotel Partner Edwardian Hotels.
Broadcast live as part of NT Live to cinemas worldwide on 6 December
Lyttelton Theatre
I’M NOT RUNNING
a new play by David Hare
Previews from 2 October, in repertoire until 31 January
Do I run? This is the question which is facing Pauline Gibson. She has spent her life as a doctor, the inspiring leader of a local health campaign. When she crosses paths with her old boyfriend, Jack Gould, a stalwart loyalist in Labour Party politics, she’s faced with an agonising decision.
What’s involved in sacrificing your private life and your peace of mind for something more than a single issue? Does she dare?
David Hare’s explosive new play portrays the history of a twenty year intimate friendship and its public repercussions.
Cast includes Siân Brooke, Alex Hassell, Joshua McGuire, Amaka Okafor, Liza Sadovy and Brigid Zengeni.
Directed by Neil Armfield, set design by Ralph Myers, costume design by Sussie Juhlin-Wallén, lighting design by Jon Clark, sound design by Paul Arditti and music by Alan John.
Production supported by Marcia Grand in loving memory of Richard Grand
Broadcast live as part of NT Live to cinemas worldwide on 31 January
WAR HORSE
based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo
adapted by Nick Stafford,
presented in association with the award-winning Handspring Puppet Company
Performances begin 8 November, playing in repertoire until 5 January 2019
Eleven years after its NT debut, and having played in eleven countries to over seven million people, War Horse returns to the National Theatre to mark the centenary of Armistice Day.
At the outbreak of World War One, Albert’s beloved horse, Joey, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France. Though not yet old enough to enlist, Albert joins the army, and embarks on a treacherous mission to find his horse and bring him home.
Based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, this powerfully moving and imaginative drama is a show of phenomenal inventiveness. At its heart are astonishing life-sized horses, created by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company.
The cast is Marcus Adolphy, Adam Barlow, Peter Becker, Joëlle Brabban, Lucas Button, Jasper William Cartwright, Jo Castleton, Chris Charles,Jonathan Charles, Sebastian Charles, Anna Chessher, Nicky Cross, Thomas Dennis, Bob Fox, Max Gallagher, Chris Garner, Andrew Hodges,Lewis Howard, William Ilkley, Ben Ingles, Billy Irving, Elan James, Kiran Landa, Gwilym Lloyd, Jack Lord, Stephen Love, Toyin Omari-Kinch,Samuel Parker, Tom Quinn, Domonic Ramsden, Arinder Sadhra, Tom Stacy, Elizabeth Stretton, and Simon Victor.
War Horse is directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, designs and drawings by Rae Smith, with puppet direction, design and fabrication by Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler for Handspring Puppet Company, lighting by Paule Constable, director of movement and horse choreography by Toby Sedgwick, puppetry direction by Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, animation and projection design by Leo Warner and Mark Grimmer for 59 Productions, music byAdrian Sutton, songmaker John Tams, and sound by Christopher Shutt.
Katie Henry is the revival director and Craig Leo is the associate puppetry director. They are joined by resident puppetry director, Matthew Forbes and resident director, Charlotte Peters.
Half price tickets for under-18s.
Dorfman Theatre
THE PRISONER
text by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne
Previews from 12 September, press night 17 September, playing until 4 October
Somewhere in the world, a man sits alone outside a prison. Who is he, and why is he there? Is it a choice, or a punishment?
Asking profound questions about justice, guilt and redemption, The Prisoner brings together a cast of acclaimed actors from around the world to explore some of the most compelling issues of our time.
Peter Brook and his long-time collaborator Marie-Hélène Estienne return to London with a provocative study of what it means to be free.
Cast includes Hiran Abeysekera, Hervé Goffings, Omar Silva, Kalieaswari Srinivasan and Donald Sumpter.
Directed by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne, lighting design by Philippe Vialatte and stage elements by David Violi.
A co-production with C.I.C.T. / Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord; The Grotowski Institute; Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen; Yale Repertory Theatre; Theatre For A New Audience – New York.
Sponsored by Delta Air Lines.
STORIES
a new play by Nina Raine
Previews from 10 October, playing until 28 November
How do you have a baby when you’re 39 and single?
This is the story of Anna. A story filled with many chapters, unexpected characters and curious plot twists.
Following the critically acclaimed Consent, Nina Raine returns to the NT with this funny and touching new play about the fertilisation of an idea. Claudie Blakley plays Anna with further cast to be announced.
Directed by Nina Raine, design by Jeremy Herbert, lighting design by Bruno Poet, music and sound by Alex Baranowski.
This play is a recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Plays Award.
THE TELL-TALE HEART
a new play by Anthony Neilson
based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe
Previews from 5 December, playing until 9 January
A young playwright rents an attic flat in Brighton, hoping it will break the writer’s block that’s preventing her from following up on her wildly successful debut. Whilst there, she forms a relationship with her landlady, a lonely young woman with a life-altering condition.
But pressure mounts on the writer, and her relationship with the landlady becomes ever-more suffocating. The Tell-Tale Heart is a twisted, graphic and darkly-comic treat.
Renowned for his ground-breaking work, Anthony Neilson (The Prudes, Unreachable, The Wonderful World of Dissocia) makes his NT debut with this contemporary reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tale of a haunted conscience.
Cast includes David Carlyle, Imogen Doel and Tamara Lawrance.
Directed by Anthony Neilson, design by Francis O’Connor, lighting design by Chahine Yavrayan and music and sound Nick Powell.
PERICLES
by William Shakespeare
in a new version by Chris Bush
with music by James Fortune
Performances on 26, 27, 28 August
Prince Pericles has everything but understands little. When a reckless act threatens his safety, he must flee his home and take to sea. Reliant on the whims of the fates and the kindness of strangers, Pericles is driven from shore to shore. Only by reaching the ends of the earth may he finally understand what it means to come home.
A huge company of all ages from across London join together with professional artists to breathe new life into this classic tale in a musical version on the Olivier stage.
Pericles launches Public Acts, our new initiative to create extraordinary acts of theatre and community. The production marks the centre point of a two-year partnership, building in-depth relationships with eight organisations who deliver visionary work in their communities, together with Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch.
The cast includes Naana Agyei-Ampadu, Audrey Brisson, Ayesha Dharker, Kevin Harvey, Garry Robson, Ashley Zhangazha, performers recruited through our community partners and seven cameo performance groups who represent the cultural diversity of London: Ascension Eagles, Faithworks Gospel Choir, London Bulgarian Choir, Manifest Nation, The Archetype Dance Team, The Bhavan and The Youthsayers.
Directed by Emily Lim, designed by Fly Davis, choreographed by Robby Graham, lighting design by Paule Constable, sound design by Paul Arditti, music director Tarek Merchant.
Partners: Body & Soul, The Bromley by Bow Centre, Coram, DABD, Havering Asian Social Welfare Association (HASWA), Open Age, Thames Reach, 3FF and Theatre Partner Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch.
Public Acts is inspired by Public Works, the Public Theater’s ground-breaking programme in New York. Supported by Arts Council England’s Strategic Touring Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Hertz, The Sackler Trust and Garfield Weston Foundation.
The National Theatre’s Partner for Learning is Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
FOLLIES
book by James Goldman
music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Previews and press night in February 2019, on sale until 26 March with further performances to be announced
After a sold-out run, Follies, winner of the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival, returns in 2019.
New York, 1971. There’s a party on the stage of the Weismann Theatre. Tomorrow the iconic building will be demolished. Thirty years after their final performance, the Follies girls gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves.
Stephen Sondheim’s legendary musical includes such classic songs as ‘Broadway Baby’, ‘I’m Still Here’ and ‘Losing My Mind’. Featuring a cast of 37 and an orchestra of 21, Follies is directed by Dominic Cooke (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom). Janie Dee and Peter Forbes return to reprise their roles, Alexander Hanson and Joanna Riding join the cast as Ben and Sally with further casting to be announced.
With designs by Vicki Mortimer, winner of the 2018 Olivier Award for best costume design, choreography by Bill Deamer, music supervisor Nicholas Skilbeck, orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick with Josh Clayton, music director Nigel Lilley, lighting design by Paule Constable and sound design by Paul Groothuis.
Exclusive Crystal Provider: Swarovski. Supported by the Follies production syndicate.
COURAGE EVERYWHERE
Rehearsed readings celebrating the fight for political equality
15 – 18 November
To mark the 100th anniversary of the first women in the UK gaining the right to vote, the NT marks this historic moment through a series of rehearsed readings, talks and screenings.
World-class directors will bring these seminal plays to life on themes of suffrage and courage in order to recognise the fight for political equality in the UK and around the world.
Thursday 15th November 7.30pm
AND OTHERS written and directed by Jenny Sealey
A testimony to the women who have been lost to history, who fought for suffrage but whose stories have been left untold. Graeae Theatre’s Artistic Director draws together the words of forgotten women to mark the reach of Suffrage.
Friday 16th November 7.30pm
IN THE PARLOUR by Judy Tate, directed by Dawn Walton
March 1913: On the eve of the most historic Women’s Suffrage Marches two women, divided by race, battle for their right to be united and to fight in this movement.
MAGDA, JO, ISABELLA by Saviana Stanescu, Aoise Stratford, Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, directed by Dawn Walton
Three brilliant new monologues from US writers tackling race, class and belonging in the Suffrage movement.
Saturday 17th November 3pm
HER NAKED SKIN by Rebecca Lenckiewicz, directed by Nadia Fall
Depicting a love-affair which crosses fraught class lines against the backdrop of the violent struggle for Suffrage, Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s historic play premiered in the Olivier Theatre in 2008
Saturday 17th November 7.30pm
BULL IN A CHINA SHOP by Bryna Turner, directed by Phyllida Lloyd
Two lovers in a Massachusetts seminary find their lives upturned by revolution, fan-adoration and the price of joining the establishment. A fierce new comedy by US writer Bryna Turner, this is a dynamic queering of history, that traverses the generations
Sunday 18th November, 3pm
VOTES FOR WOMEN by Elizabeth Robins, directed Lyndsey Turner
Elizabeth Robins’ genre-defining 1907 play dramatises the moment in which the Suffragette movement was born; as polite political discourse reached breaking point and women across the UK stood up to be counted.
In the West End
NINE NIGHT
by Natasha Gordon
Trafalgar Studios
1 December 2018 – 9 February 2019,
Following a sold out run at the National Theatre, Natasha Gordon’s critically acclaimed debut play, Nine Night, will transfer to Trafalgar Studios in a co-production with Trafalgar Theatre Productions.
Directed by Roy Alexander Weise (The Mountaintop), Nine Night is a touching and exuberantly funny exploration of the rituals of family. Gloria is gravely sick. When her time comes, the celebration begins; the traditional Jamaican Nine Night Wake. But for Gloria’s children and grandchildren, marking her death with a party that lasts over a week is a test. Nine rum-fuelled nights of music, food, storytelling and laughter – and an endless parade of mourners.
Original NT production design by Rajha Shakiry, with lighting design by Paule Constable, sound design by George Dennis, movement direction by Shelley Maxwell, fight direction by Bret Yount, company voice work by Rebecca Cuthbertson, dialect coaching by Hazel Holder, and staff direction by Jade Lewis. Casting for the West End transfer to be announced.
