Jonathan Church's world première production of Taken at Midnight, a new play by Mark Hayhurst currently running at Chichester Festival Theatre, will transfer to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket for a limited season previewing from 15 January 2015.
Returning to the West End after a five-year absence, Penelope Wilton reprises her role as Irmgard, the mother of celebrated Lawyer Hans Litten who puts Hitler on the witness stand in 1930s Germany with devastating consequences.
Staged as part of Chichester Festival Theatre's Hidden Histories season, Irmgard's relationship with her son Hans and her courageous efforts to help him are at the heart of this new play by Mark Hayhurst. Building his reputation on drama documentaries which explore key historical moments, Hayhurst also wrote 37 days, a major factual drama series for the BBC's WW1 Centenary in 2014.
In Taken at Midnight, the mother of brilliant German Jewish lawyer Hans Litten fights for his release against the seemingly impossible might of the Nazi regime, confronting his captors at enormous personal risk. The unquestionable love of a mother for her son is put centre stage in Hayhurst's study of the horror of pre-war Nazi Germany.
Commissioned by commercial producer Mark Goucher, and written with Penelope Wilton in mind, Taken at Midnight is Hayhurst's first work for the stage.