|
News
|
|
|
News |
Dateline: 15th September, 2002 Autumn at the National Autumn at the National Theatre brings the world premieres of four new plays: an 18th-century classic; and the National's first foray into 1930s American musical comedy, with several of Britain's most distinguished actors returning to the South Bank.
The life of the widely admired Loft Theatre is being extended beyond the Transformation season, offering a new play, Dinner, by Moira Buffini, with a cast including Penny Downie, Nicholas Farrell and Harriet Walter, directed by Fiona Buffini, together with two plays for children at half-term and Christmas. There's a chance to take a seasonal cruise on board Cole Porter's dazzling 1930s musical Anything Goes, with a crew captained by Trevor Nunn in the Olivier; and playing at venues across the UK will be this year's mobile tour, Brecht's The Threepenny Opera. Plus a concert verson of Sondheim's The Frogs for five performances only in the Olivier. Mappa Mundi by Shelagh Stephenson receives its world premiere at the Cottesloe Theatre on 24 October (previews from 18 October), directed by Bill Alexander and designed by Ruari Murchison, with lighting by Paul Pyant, choreography by Arthur Pita, music by Jonathan Goldstein and sound by David Tinson. The cast includes James Hayes, Ian Holm, Alibe Parsons, Patrick Robinson, Tim McInnerny and Lia Williams. This is Shelagh Stephenson's first play at the National Theatre. Dinner by Moira Buffini will open in the Loft Theatre on Monday 18 November (previews from 14 November), directed by Fiona Buffini and designed by Rachel Blues, with sound by Rich Walsh. The cast includes Penny Downie, Nicholas Farrell and Harriet Walter. An artist, a scientist and a sexpot are coming to dinner. Paige (Harriet Walter), hostess extraordinaire, is celebrating the publication of her husband's best-seller about the psychological apocalypse. The arrival of Mike, marooned in the foggy lane having crashed his van, provides an unexpected addition to the evening's entertainment. A silent waiter, sourced from an obscure website, completes the picture. Primordial Soup is first on the menu - let the dinner from hell begin… Dinner is Moira Buffini's first play at the National. Howard Davies directs the world premiere of The Talking Cure by Christopher Hampton, opening in the Cottesloe Theatre on Thursday 12 December (previews from 6 December). The set designer will be Tim Hatley, with costumes by Jenny Beaven, lighting by Peter Mumford, music by Dominic Muldowney and sound by Christopher Shutt. The cast includes Ralph Fiennes as Jung, James Hazeldine as Freud and Jodhi May as Sabine Spielrein. The Talking Cure deals with the early years of Jung and his decision to experiment, using Freud's controversial new method of psycho-analysis, with a young Russian patient, Sabine Spielrein. The success of the experiment and the blossoming of his relationship with Sabine inaugurates, haunts and ultimately poisons Jung's friendship with Freud; and the ideas and conflicts which engulf the three of them embody, as Jung comes to realise, the destructive forces which are to overwhelm the disastrous century ahead. The National Theatre and Out of Joint join forces once again, to present a classic comedy of manners and a world premiere in repertoire. She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith and A Laughing Matter by April De Angelis will be directed by Max Stafford-Clark and designed by Julian McGowan, with lighting by Johanna Town, music by Paddy Cunneen and sound by Neil Alexander. The cast is Stephen Beresford, Nigel Cooke, Monica Dolan, Fritha Goodey, Bella Merlin, Ian Redford, Owen Sharpe, Matthew Sim, Christopher Staines, Jason Watkins and Jane Wood. Anything Goes - music and lyrics by Cole Porter, original book by PG Wodehouse & Guy Bolton and Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse, new book by Timothy Crouse & John Weidman - opens in the Olivier Theatre on Wednesday 18 December (previews from 11 December), with a creative team led by director Trevor Nunn. The choreographer is Stephen Mear, with set designs by John Gunter, costumes by Anthony Powell and lighting by David Hersey. The music is arranged and orchestrated by Michael Gibson; the musical supervisor/dance arranger (and conductor of the onboard orchestra) will be Gareth Valentine; the associate musical director will be James Dunsmore and the assistant musical director, Ian Townsend. Sound is by Paul Groothuis. (This version of Anything Goes was originally produced at Lincoln Center Theater, New York City in 1987.) The cast is soon to be announced. The first 'golden age' of American musical comedy in the 1930's produced a crop of masterworks from the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. Their content was intentionally and exuberantly light-hearted, with farcical plots concerning highly satirised characters, but they nonetheless presented musical scores of exquisite sophistication and elegance. Cole Porter's ANYTHING GOES will be the National's first excursion into this richly endowed territory. The fabulous tune-filled, dance-peppered score includes I Get A Kick Out of You, You're the Top, It's De-Lovely, Blow Gabriel Blow, You'd Be So Easy to Love, All Through the Night and the galvanic title number Anything Goes. Sadly, Paul Rhys has had to withdraw from the title role of Ivanov, due to family illness. The role will now be played by Owen Teale. Katie Mitchell's production will now open at the Cottesloe on Monday 16 September at 7.30pm, with preview performances from Saturday 7 September. The full cast is: Juliet Aubrey, Robert Bowman, Sarah Flind, Gillian Hanna, Christopher Hunter, Sean Jackson, Stuart McQuarrie, Sarah Northgraves, Tom Peters, Owen Teale, Indira Varma, Philip Voss, Janet Whiteside and Peter Wight. A concert version of The Frogs, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Burt Shevelove (1974 AD), freely adapted from the comedy by Aristophanes (405 BC), will be presented by a score of actors and a dozen musicians in the Olivier Theatre for five performances only, on 7, 8, 14 November at 7.15pm and 15 November at 2.00pm & 7.15pm. First staged by Yale Repertory Theatre in the university's swimming pool in 1974, Sondheim and Shevelove's take on Aristophanes has the god Dionysus persuading Shaw and Shakespeare to take part in a literary contest. The winner will earn his passage back across the river Styx, with its resident chorus of Frogs. Next>> The National on Tour Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
|
|
|