The British Theatre Guide: November to February at the National

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Dateline: 23rd August, 2008

November to February at the National

The National Theatre has announced new productions from November 2008 to February 2009. Highlights include new plays by David Hare and Samuel Adamson, a Tony, Drama Desk and Pulitzer Prize winner and a revival of a play by Tom Stopprad.

Gethsemane
By David Hare
Cottesloe Theatre
Opens 11th November (previews from 4th), continuing in repertoire.
Directed by Howard Davies. The cast includes Anthony Calf, Tamsin Greig, Jessica Raine, Daniel Ryan, Stanley Townsend and Nicola Walker. The production will have set designs by Bob Crowley and costumes by Fotini Dimou, with lighting by Mark Henderson and sound by Christopher Shutt.
Continues in repertoire at the Cottesloe until 24 February, after which the production will tour the UK.

Nothing is more important to a modern political party than fund-raising. But the values of the donor can't always coincide with the professed beliefs of the party. And family scandal within the cabinet has the potential to throw both the money-raisers and the money-spenders into chaos.
David Hare's new ensemble play about British public life looks at the way business, media and politics are now intertwined to nobody's advantage, as, in an unforgiving world, one character after another passes through Gethsemane.

August: Osage County
By Tracy Letts
Lyttelton Theatre
Opens 26th November (previews from 21st), playing until 21 January.
The Steppenwolf Company returns to London. The production, which ran in Chicago and on Broadway to great acclaim, is directed by Anna D Shapiro, with set design by Todd Rosenthal, costumes by Ana Kuzmanic, lighting by Ann G Wrightson, music by David Singer, fights by Chuck Coyl and sound by Richard Woodbury.

When the large Weston family unexpectedly reunites in Oklahoma, after their father disappears, their home explodes in a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets.
Tracy Letts' new play unflinchingly - and uproariously - exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family.

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
By Tom Stoppard and André Previn
Olivier Theatre
Opens 16th January (previews from 12th), continuing in repertoire.
It is directed by Felix Barrett and Tom Morris, and will be designed by Bob Crowley, with lighting by Bruno Poet, choreography by Maxine Doyle and sound by Christopher Shutt. A co-production with Southbank Sinfonia, Britain's young professional orchestra, conducted by Simon Over.

A dissident is locked up in an asylum. If he accepts that he was ill, has been treated and is now cured, he will be released. He refuses.
Sharing his cell is a real lunatic who believes himself to be surrounded by an orchestra. As the dissident's son begs his father to free himself with a lie, Tom Stoppard's darkly funny and provocative play asks if denying the truth is a price worth paying for liberty.

Mrs Affleck
By Samuel Adamson
Cotttesloe Theatre
Opens 27th January (previews from 20th), continuing in repertoire.
The production is directed by Marianne Elliott and designed by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Neil Austin, music by Stephen Warbeck and sound by Christopher Shutt. The cast includes Claire Skinner in the title role, with Naomi Frederick and Angus Wright.

Samuel Adamson's new play takes Ibsen's Little Eyolf as the inspiration for a passionate and tragic tale of obsessive love, set in 1950s England.
After six lonely weeks with nobody but her crippled little boy for company, Rita Affleck, wealthy, beautiful and consumed by jealous love, welcomes home her husband Alfred. But, far from the passionate reunion she so craves, there is only torment as Alfred's possessive half-sister arrives, and he announces his great revelation.

Casting and Touring News

Oedipus
The cast for Jonathan Kent's production of Sophocles' Oedipus, in a new version by Frank McGuinness, opening in the Olivier on 15th October as part of The Shell Series: Classic Drama at the National, includes Patrick Brennan, Jasper Britton, Alfred Burke, David Burke, Edward Clayton, Sam Cox, Russell Dixon, Ralph Fiennes, Darren Fox, Richard Freeman, Clare Higgins, Alan Howard, Sioned Jones, Gwilym Lee, Neil McCaul, Paul McCleary, Stanley Page, Steven Page, Christopher Saul, David Shaw-Parker, Malcolm Storry and Robert Willox.

War Horse
The full cast for the revival of War Horse, based on Michael Morpurgo's novel and adapted by Nick Stafford, playing in the Olivier from 10 September, is James Barriscale, Finn Caldwell, Paul Chequer, Conor Doyle, Tim van Eyken, Curtis Flowers, Bronagh Gallagher, Thomas Goodridge, David Gyasi, Bryony Hannah, Kit Harington, Stephen Harper, Gareth Kennerley, Pieter Lawman, Jane Leaney, Craig Leo, Tim Lewis, Tommy Luther, Colin Mace, Mervyn Millar, Emily Mytton, Al Nedjari, Patrick O'Kane,Toby Olié, Howard Ward, Alan Williams and Roger Wilson. The production is directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, and presented in association with Handspring Puppet Company.

Waves
Waves, a work devised by Katie Mitchell and the Company from the text of Virginia Woolf's novel The Waves, tours in the UK and abroad following its revival at the Cottesloe Theatre, visiting Leeds Courtyard Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse (16 - 20 September); The Lowry, Salford (23 - 27 September); Bath Theatre Royal (30 September - 4 October); Dublin Theatre Festival, Beckett Centre (7 - 11 October); The Hague Koninklijke Schouwberg (16 - 18 October); Luxembourg Théâtre de la Ville (23 - 25 October); and New York The Duke, 42nd Street (12 - 22 November).

From 21st September, for the first time, the Olivier and Lyttelton Theatres will regularly offer 3pm matinees on Sundays for War Horse, in-i, Oedipus, To Be Straight With You and August: Osage County.

The Mezzanine restaurant, bars and Bookshop will also be open, and there will be Backstage Tours.

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