The Five Wives of Maurice Pinder
Cottesloe Theatre
Previews from 13th June, opening night 20th June, continuing in repertoire
A new play by Matt Charman, The Five Wives of Maurice Pinder,
will be directed by Sarah Frankcom. The full cast is: Sorcha Cusack,
Adam Gillen, Carla Henry, Clare Holman, Martina Laird, Larry Lamb,
Tessa Peake-Jones and Steve John Shepherd.
The play takes a provocative look at married life, and the alternatives.
No family photograph can truly prepare Rowena for her first meeting
with Maurice's three wives and teenaged son. Young, nervous and extremely
pregnant, she is warmly welcomed into the fold but her presence soon
has the family questioning the nature of their delicate balance. Then
Fay brings home a one-night stand, with far-reaching consequences
for them all.
Matt Charman won the Verity Bargate Award in 2004 for A
Night at the Dogs (Soho) and the Peggy Ramsay Award whilst
writer on attachment at Soho Theatre. He is currently Writer in Residence
(supported by the Pearson Televsion Award) at the NT.
Sarah Frankcom is an Associate Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre
in Manchester where her recent work includes the NT co-production
On The Shore of The Wide
World, Who's Afraid
of Virginia Woolf, Mary
Barton, Separate Tables and The
Rise and Fall of Little Voice.
Saint Joan
Travelex £10 tickets
Olivier Theatre
Previews from th July, opening night 11th July, continuing in repertoire
Saint Joan by Bernard Shaw will be the fifth Travelex £10
Ticket show this season. Directed by Marianne Elliott, the cast is
led by Anne-Marie Duff in the title role and also includes Jamie Ballard,
James Barriscale, Simon Bubb, Finn Caldwell, Oliver Ford Davies (as
the Inquisitor), Jonathan Jaynes, Paterson Joseph (as Cauchon), Gareth
Kennerley, William Osborne, Paul Ready (as the Dauphin), Michael Thomas,
Luke Treadaway, Ross Waiton and Angus Wright (as Warwick).
Marianne Elliott is Associate Director at the National, where she
has directed Pillars
of the Community and Thérèse
Raquin; she recently directed Much
Ado About Nothing for the RSC, and will co-direct War Horse
with Tom Morris at the National this autumn.
The Hothouse
Lyttelton Theatre
Previews from 11th July, opening night 18th July, continuing in repertoire
The Hothouse by Harold Pinter is directed by Ian Rickson.
The cast includes Leo Bill, Finbar Lynch, Stephen Moore, Paul Ritter,
Lia Williams and Henry Woolf.
At once chilling and deliriously funny, it was written in 1958 just
before The Caretaker.
Ian Rickson was artistic director of the Royal Court from 1998-2007,
where his many productions included The
Seagull, Krapp's Last
Tape, with Harold Pinter as Krapp (also for BBC4), The
Weir (also West End and Broadway) and Mojo (also West End
and US). At the National, he has previously directed Kevin Elyot's
The Day I Stood Still.
The Enchantment
Cottesloe Theatre
Previews from 24th July, opening night 1 August, continuing in repertoire
Paul Miller directs The Enchantment by Victorian Benedictsson,
in a new version by Clare Bayley. The production is designed by Simon
Daw, with lighting by Bruno Poet, music by David Shrubsole and sound
by John Leonard.
One sunny day in Paris, Gustave Alland, famous artist and philanderer,
visits Louise Strindberg - convalescing in her brother's studio -
and casts her effortlessly under his spell. In a vain attempt to escape,
she exiles herself to her provincial hometown in Sweden. But a letter
propels her back to Paris and into his arms. And for a brief moment,
before the horror, ecstasy is hers.
Victoria Benedictsson, groundbreaking Swedish novelist and playwright,
was the inspiration for Strindberg's Miss Julie. She had a
scandalous affair which led to her suicide soon after completing the
play in 1888.
Clare Bayley developed her version of The Enchantment while
on attachment at the National Theatre Studio. Other plays include
The Container, which premieres at this year's Edinburgh Festival;
The Woman Who Swallowed A Pin (Southwark Playhouse); Northern
Lights (also produced on radio); and a screenplay Corridors
in The Air, for which she was awarded the Sunday Times Screenwriting
award.
Paul Miller is Artistic Associate at the Bush Theatre and the New
Plays Associate at English Touring Theatre. His previous work for
the NT includes Sing
Yer Heart Out For The Lads; other work includes Total
Eclipse (Menier Chocolate Factory) Elling
and Kingfisher Blue
(Bush), French Without
Tears (ETT), and Honeymoon
Suite (Royal Court).
The Emperor Jones
Travelex £10 tickets
Olivier Theatre
Previews from 22nd August, opening night 28th August, continuing in
repertoire
Thea Sharrock directs The Emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill,
the final Travelex £10 Ticket show of 2007. Paterson Joseph
plays the title role.
Thea Sharrock's production
for The Gate Theatre of O'Neill's controversial 1920 play was a theatrical
highlight of 2005 and she now reconceives it for the Olivier, with
Paterson Joseph reprising his critically acclaimed performance.
Southern American ex-convict, Brutus Jones, aided by his double-crossing
British ally, Smithers, connives his way into an uncompromising dictatorship
over a remote island in the West Indies. Faced with a terrifying people's
revolt, the delusional Emperor escapes to the dark forest and a promise
of salvation. But in the searing heat and to the ominous pulse of
his trackers' drums, Jones is driven to make his way through every
lead bullet in his gun, right down to the silver one he is saving
for himself.
Paterson Joseph was last seen at the NT in The
Royal Hunt of the Sun and Elmina's
Kitchen; this season he will also be appearing in Saint
Joan. His extensive screen credits include Peep Show, Dr
Who, Green Wing and William and Mary.
Thea Sharrock's recent work includes Equus
(Gielgud Theatre), A
Voyage Round My Father (Donmar & Wyndham's), Heroes
(Wyndham's), and several productions for The Peter Hall Company including
Blithe Spirit.
Until recently Artistic Director of The Gate Theatre, she has previously
directed Free at the NT.
NT Connections
Olivier & Cottesloe Theatres
Performances from 12th - 17th July
NT Connections commissions new plays for and about young people
from some of the best contemporary playwrights, for performance by
schools and youth theatres from all over the UK and Ireland, both
in their home venues and at sixteen regional partnership theatres.
The NT Festival showcases an example of each play.
The 2007 Connections portfolio features nine new plays: Ruckus
in the Garden by David Farr, Scary Play by Judith Johnson,
DeoxyriboNucleic Acid by Dennis Kelly, Red Sky by Bryony
Lavery, Show and Tell by Laline Paull, The Black Remote
by Glyn Maxwell, A Year and a Day by Christina Reid, A Bridge to the
Stars by Henning Mankell (in a new adaptation by John Retallack) and
Baby Girl by Roy Williams. They include tales of loss and corruption,
cover ups and risk-taking, with settings ranging from magical gardens
and humdrum streets to hot alien landscapes - collectively demonstrating
that, for a young person, the world is a testing place.
