The British Theatre Guide: April to July at the National

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Dateline: 23rd February, 2011

April to July at the National

More details have been announced of the May to July season at the National Theatre, outlined in our news story of 30th January.

Hamlet
By William Shakespeare
Lyttelton Theatre (Travelex £12 Tickets)
12 performances only, 13 - 23 April
Following its tour, Nicholas Hytner's acclaimed production, with Evening Standard Best Actor award-winner Rory Kinnear in the title role, returns.
The cast also includes David Calder, Clare Higgins, Patrick Malahide and James Laurenson (nominated for an Olivier Award as Best Supporting Actor). Ellie Turner takes over the role of Ophelia for the Lyttelton performances.

London Road
Book and lyrics by Alecky Blythe, music and lyrics by Adam Cork
Cottesloe Theatre
Opening 14th April (previews from 7th), in repertoire until 18th June
Directed by Rufus Norris
The cast is: Clare Burt, Rosalie Craig, Kate Fleetwood, Hal Fowler, Nick Holder, Claire Moore, Michael Shaeffer, Nicola Sloane, Paul Thornley, Howard Ward and Duncan Wisbey. The designer is Katrina Lindsay, with lighting by Bruno Poet, music direction by David Shrubsole, movement by Javier de Frutos and sound by Paul Arditti.

In the autumn of 2006, the everyday life of the quiet rural town of Ipswich was shattered by the discovery of the bodies of five women.
The residents of London Road had struggled for years with the soliciting and kerb-crawling that they frequently encountered. As Steve Wright, the occupant of No. 79, was arrested, charged and then convicted of the murders, the immediate community grappled with what it meant to be at the epicentre of this tragedy.
Adam Cork uses the melodic and rhythmic speech patterns captured on playwright Alecky Blythe's extensive recorded interviews with the people of Ipswich to create an experimental and challenging work which reveals the ways in which even the darkest experiences can engender a greater sense of our mutual dependence.

The Cherry Orchard
By Anton Chekhov, in a version by Andrew Upton
Olivier Theatre (Travelex £12 Tickets)
Opening 17th May (previews from 10th), continuing in repertoire
Directed by Howard Davies.
NT Associate Zoë Wanamaker returns to the National as Ranyevskaya; the cast also includes Claudie Blakley (as Varya), Mark Bonnar (Trofimov), Pip Carter (Yepihodov), Kenneth Cranham (Firs), Paul Dodds, Craige Els, Mark Fleischmann, Colin Haigh, Conleth Hill (Lopakhin), Gerald Kyd (Yasha), James Laurenson (Gaev), Tim McMullan (Simyonov-Pischik), Jessica Regan, Tim Samuels, Emily Taaffe (Dunyasha), Stephanie Thomas, Joseph Thompson, Rosie Thomson, Ellie Turner, Charity Wakefield (Anya) and Sarah Woodward (Charlotta).
The production will be designed by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Neil Austin, music by Dominic Muldowney and sound by Paul Groothuis.

One Man, Two Guvnors
By Richard Bean, based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni
Lyttelton Theatre
Opening 24th May (Previews from 17th) May, touring from 4 October
Directed by Nicholas Hytner
James Corden returns to the National for the first time since The History Boys to head the cast, which also includes Oliver Chris, Martyn Ellis, Trevor Laird, Claire Lams, Fred Ridgeway, Daniel Rigby, Jemima Rooper and Suzie Toase. The associate director will be Cal McCrystal and the production will be designed by Mark Thompson, with lighting by Mark Henderson, music by Grant Olding and sound design by Paul Arditti.

In Richard Bean's English version of Goldoni's classic Italian comedy, sex, food and money are high on the agenda. Fired from his skiffle band, Francis Henshall becomes minder to Roscoe Crabbe, a small time East End hood, now in Brighton to collect £6000 from his fiancee's dad. But Roscoe is really his sister Rachel posing as her own dead brother, who's been killed by her boyfriend Stanley Stubbers. Holed up at the Cricketers' Arms, the permanently ravenous Francis spots the chance of an extra meal ticket and takes a second job with one Stanley Stubbers, who is hiding from the police and waiting to be re-united with Rachel. To prevent discovery, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart. Simple.

Emperor and Galilean
By Henrik Ibsen, in a new version by Ben Power
Olivier Theatre (Travelex £12 Tickets)
Opening 15th June (previews from 7th), continuing in repertoire
Directed by Jonathan Kent
Andrew Scott plays Julian, with Ian McDiarmid as Maximus; the cast also includes Jamie Ballard, Simon Coombs, Daniel Flynn, John Heffernan, Chris Jared, James McArdle, Simon Merrells, Carole Nimmons, Genevieve O'Reilly, Lara Rossi, Prasanna Puwanarajah and Sargon Yelda.
The production will be designed by Paul Brown with lighting by Mark Henderson, music by Jonathan Dove, video by Nina Dunn, movement by Denni Sayers and sound by Christopher Shutt.

Made Emperor, Julian attemps to abolish Christianity and restore the old gods. But met with fierce resistance, this great free-thinker becomes a tyrant more hated than his brutal predecessor Constantius. And in arousing the Christians from their apathy he advances their cause, his life and death altering the course of history in stark opposition to his intent.
Ibsen's magnificent farewell to epic drama tackles faith head on. A cast of fifty will perform this new version, creating a cathedral of sound and ritual.

A Woman Killed with Kindness
By Thomas Heywood
Lyttelton Theatre (half the tickets will be Travelex £12 Tickets, with the rest at £20 and £30)
Opening 19th July (previews from 12th), continuing in repertoire
Directed by Katie Mitchell
Designed by Lizzie Clachan and Vicki Mortimer, with lighting by Jon Clark, movement by Joseph Alford and sound by Gareth Fry.

Two women fight for their emotional survival in a rural wilderness dominated by men, money and an unbending morality. Fast-moving, frightening and erotic, this will be a radical production of a major play.

The Connections Festival will run in the Cottesloe and Olivier Theatres from 29th June to 4th July. Connections is the National's year-long, nationwide festival of new writing for young performers, with premieres of ten new plays for young people by writers including Alia Bano, Katori Hall, Nell Leyshon and Douglas Maxwell. Nearly 200 young theatre companies from Cornwall to the Shetland Islands have taken part in Connections 2011 and its nineteen regional festivals, culminating in the Connections Festival in the Olivier and Cottesloe Theatres, which showcases an example of each play.

Following its run at the National, Nicholas Hytner's production of One Man, Two Guvnors will tour the UK with its original cast, visiting the Theatre Royal, Plymouth (4 - 8 October); The Lowry, Salford (11 - 15 October); New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham (18 - 22 October) and the King's Theatre, Edinburgh (25 - 29 October).

For the first time, National Theatre Live is to broadcast two separate performances of a production. Oscar-winner Danny Boyle's production of Frankenstein, a new play by Nick Dear based on Mary Shelley's novel, will be filmed twice to allow audiences in cinemas the chance to see Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternating the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature.

Frankenstein, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as the Creature and Jonny Lee Miller as Victor, will be broadcast live to cinemas in the UK and Europe on 17th March at 7.00pm as already announced. The additional filmed performance with the leading roles reversed - Jonny Lee Miller as the Creature and Benedict Cumberbatch as Victor - will be screened in the UK and Europe on 2th March, also at 7.00pm (with worldwide screenings of both performances at a later date).

Howard Davies's production of The Cherry Orchard will be broadcast live from the Olivier Theatre on 30 June.

Fela! will play at Sadler's Wells from 20th July to 28th August.

Do We Look Like Refugees?! will play at the Riverside Studios from 19th to 29th May and the Drum Theatre. Plymouth, from 1st to 4th June
This verbatim play, originally produced by the Rustaveli Theatre in Georgia and the National Theatre Studio, is created from interviews with refugees who lost their homes after the 2008 August War between Georgia and Russia. As hope of returning to their homeland becomes a distant dream, this refugee settlement near Tbilisi is evolving into a permanent small town. Stories of love and enterprise emerge in this poignant and surprisingly humorous play.

Watch This Space, the National's free events season, returns to Theatre Square from July to September.

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