Rufus Norris has announced some National Theatre productions for 2016.
The first play by Lorraine Hansberry to be produced at the National Theatre will be Les Blancs in the Olivier directed by Yaël Farber. Norris himself will direct a new version of Brecht and Weill's The Threepenny Opera adapted by Simon Stephens, also in the Olivier, with Rory Kinnear as Macheath.
From February, Dominic Cooke will direct Sharon D Clarke, O–T Fagbenle, Lucian Msamati and Giles Terera in August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom in the Lyttelton, which will also feature a new adaptation of Erdman's The Suicide by Suhayla El-Bushra set in modern Britain, directed by Nadia Fall.
Also in the Lyttelton, Carrie Cracknell will direct The Deep Blue Sea by Terrence Rattigan from June and Howard Davies will direct The Plough and the Stars by Sean O'Casey in July.
In the Dorfman Theatre, the late Sarah Kane will make her National Theatre debut with a production by Katie Mitchell of Cleansed from February, Annie Baker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Flick, directed by Sam Gold, will open in April and Alexi Kaye Campbell's new play, Sunset at the Villa Thalia, directed by Simon Godwin, will run from May.
Sherman Cymru's acclaimed production of Iphigenia in Splott by Gary Owen, directed by Rachel O’Riordan with Sophie Melville recreating her award-winning performance as Effie, comes to the Temporary Theatre, as does Graeae Theatre Company’s co-production with Theatre Royal, Plymouth of The Solid Life of Sugar Water by Jack Thorne, directed by Amit Sharma.
In the West End, it was announced that War Horse will end its run at the New London Theatre in March 2016 after 8 years and more than 3,000 performances. A second tour of the production will begin in autumn 2017.
There will be a series of panel debates and discussions based on issues related to NT productions chaired by Evan Davis and Emily Maitlis in the Lyttelton from November, with subjects including The Red Lion and the future of football, As You Like It and living in the city, Waste and the new political age, Jane Eyre and feminism and wonder.land and the digital world. There will also be a debate linked to Husbands & Sons in Manchester during its run at the Royal Exchange.
Norris also announced the appointment of four new Associates: sound designer Paul Arditti, directors Nadia Fall and Simon Godwin and actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. They join the existing Associate Directors Paule Constable, Dominic Cooke, Marianne Elliott, Tom Morris and Lyndsey Turner.