DAVID TENNANT AS MACBETH AND THE EUROPEAN PREMIÈRE OF LYNN NOTTAGE’S CLYDE’S CONCLUDE DONMAR WAREHOUSE’S 2023 PROGRAMME
With the sold-out production of Noël Coward’s Private Lives currently running until 27 May, Artistic Director Michael Longhurst and Executive Director Henny Finch today announce the final two shows in the programme for 2023, and the conclusion of Donmar’s 30th birthday season. The European première of Clyde’s reunites double Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and director Lynette Linton as a follow up to their Donmar smash hit Sweat which transferred to the West End. The production opens on 19 October, with previews from 13 October and runs until 2 December.
The season concludes with William Shakespeare’s Macbeth starring David Tennant in the title role, directed by Donmar Associate Director Max Webster, which opens on 15 December, with previews from 8 December, and runs until 10 February 2024.
Michael Longhurst’s final season of shows before he steps down as Artistic Director next year will be announced in Autumn 2023.
Also announced today is the schools’ tour of William Shakespeare’s Henry V, directed by Donmar’s former Resident Assistant Director Dadiow Lin. Inspired by the critically acclaimed 2022 Donmar Warehouse production directed by Max Webster, and supported by headline partner Howdens and Westminster City Council, the production tours for four weeks in June and July, with performances offered free of charge reaching up to 3000 young people in Camden and Westminster.
Later this year, the Donmar will host the launch of a new paper by Climate Dramaturg and Donmar Associate Artist Dr Zoë Svendsen. This report represents the culmination of an 18-month research period during which Zoë and the Donmar, together with freelance artists, have worked to create a new, climate-conscious model for production, which they intend to make freely available to the industry along with key resources to share their learnings and new ways of working.
Donmar Warehouse also announces today the second cohort of playwrights who will receive The Theatre Royal Haymarket Writers Award, in partnership with Access Entertainment, owner of the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
The Award commissions two new writers each year to support the development of their careers on main stages. Each writer will receive a full commission to write a play as well as access to the Donmar’s creative talent who will offer support for the research and development of the writers’ ideas, through readings and workshops with professional actors. The 2023 recipients of the Theatre Royal Haymarket Writer’s Award are Mufaro Makubiku and Hannah Shury-Smith.
This season is generously supported by Charles Holloway, Season Supporter.
Michael Longhurst says today “For my penultimate season announcement I am thrilled to share two more productions to round off our 30th birthday year. First, we have the European première of Lynn Nottage’s hilarious and uplifting CLYDE’S directed by Lynette Linton, fresh from her Critics’ Circle Best Director win. CLYDE’S follows their astonishing production of SWEAT staged at the Donmar, and the West End, in 2019. And I am so excited to witness David Tennant’s portrayal of Macbeth, in what will be an unmissable production directed by Max Webster. We are also proud to share an adapted version of our last Shakespeare production HENRY V with young people in Camden and Westminster in our next Schools’ tour, created by artists from our training programme. With the continued cuts to schools’ arts provision, touring productions like this are essential, to help nurture the next generation of audiences and theatre makers. Finally I am delighted to have Mufaro Makubiko and Hannah Shury-Smith under commission, thanks to our Theatre Royal Haymarket Writers Award”
Forbes McNaughton, Howdens Company Secretary said, “We are delighted to be sponsoring the Donmar’s Henry V Schools Tour this year, building on last year’s successful support of their ‘Take the Stage’ programme. Supporting local communities, and inspiring young people within them, is one of Howdens’ key values. Access to inspiration should be available to all, and our ongoing support of this exciting initiative means that young people, who may not have previously considered a career in performing arts, for cultural, geographical or socio-economic reasons, have access to some of theatre’s leading creative minds.”
As part of its continued 30th birthday celebrations, and with generous support from Associate Sponsor Barclays, the Donmar continues to offer £10 tickets on all of its productions in 2023 for audiences under the age of 30. Six tickets will be available for every performance of Clyde’s and ten on every performance of Macbeth.
Speaking about supporting the Donmar to continue to offer these discounted tickets on Macbeth, Tom Corbett, Managing Director, Sponsorship, from Barclays said: “We are incredibly proud of our long-standing affiliation partnership with the Donmar Warehouse and anticipate that this production of Macbeth will be a must-see event. We are delighted to be able to offer audiences aged under 30 the opportunity to experience the show for just £10.”
Instagram, Twitter and Facebook: @donmarwarehouse
CLYDE’S
By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Lynette Linton
13 October – 2 December 2023
Designer: Frankie Bradshaw
Lighting Designer: Oliver Fenwick
Sound Designer: George Dennis
Movement Director: Kane Husbands
Composer: Duramaney Kamara
Casting to be announced.
It’s kind of a ritual, we speak the truth. Then, let go and cook.
In the bustling kitchen of a run-down Pennsylvania truck stop, the formerly incarcerated staff have been given a second chance. Under the tyrannical eye of their boss Clyde, this unlikely team strives to create the perfect sandwich, as they dream of leaving their past mistakes behind for a better life.
Double Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Lynn Nottage (Ruined, Sweat, The Secret Life of Bees) and director Lynette Linton (Critics’ Circle Best Director for Blues for an Alabama Sky) reunite for the European premiere of the hilarious and hopeful CLYDE’S,the follow up to their Donmar five star production of SWEAT which transferred to the West End.
“Lynn Nottage is remarkable and uniquely exhilarating.” The Washington Post on Clyde’s
“Lynette Linton’s superbly calibrated production excels from start to finish” ***** The Guardian on Sweat
Lynn Nottage is a playwright and a screenwriter, and the first woman in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. Recent work includes the book for MJ the Musical (Broadway), the libretto for the Intimate Apparel Opera (LCT), and Clyde’s (Broadway, 2ST, Goodman Theater), and co-curating the performance installation The Watering Hole (Signature Theater). Past work includes Sweat, Ruined, the book for The Secret Life of Bees; Mlima’s Tale; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Intimate Apparel; Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por’knockers; and POOF!. She has also developed This is Reading, a performance installation in Reading, Pennsylvania. Ms. Nottage is a member of the Theater Hall of Fame, and the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship (among other awards). She is also an Associate Professor at Columbia University School of the Arts and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
Lynette Linton is the Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre. She was previously Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse. For the Donmar, her credits include Sweat (also West End; Best Director, Black British Theatre Awards).Her other productions include August in England, House Of Ife and Chiaroscuro (Bush Theatre), Blues for an Alabama Sky (National Theatre, Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Director and Critics Circle Award for Best Director), Richard II (co-directed with Adjoa Andoh, marking the first ever company of women of colour in a Shakespeare play on a major UK stage) (Shakespeare’s Globe), Assata Taught Me (Gate Theatre) Function (National Youth Theatre) This Is (Arts Educational School), Indenture (Dark Horse Festival), Naked (Vault Festival), This Wide Night (Albany Theatre). She was also co-director on Chicken Palace (Theatre Royal Stratford East). As assistant/associate director her credits include The York Realist, Belleville, The Lady from The Sea and Knives in Hens (Donmar Warehouse), Torn (Royal Court), Image of An Unknown Young Woman, The Christians (Gate Theatre), Gutted (Theatre Royal Stratford East), and The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Noel Coward Theatre). As a writer her productions include Hashtag Lightie (Arcola Theatre), and Chicken Palace and Step (Theatre Royal Stratford East). For television, her credits include My Name is Leon; and as writer: Look At Me.
MACBETH
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Max Webster
8 December 2023 – 10 February 2024
Sound Designer: Gareth Fry
Movement Director: Shelley Maxwell
Cast: David Tennant
“O, full of scorpions is my mind”
A spellbinding story of love and murder, the renewing power of nature, and of the internal struggles of a damaged man as he tries to control his destiny. This bracingly fresh production of the Scottish play places us inside the mind of Macbeth, asking are we ever really responsible for our actions?
Shakespeare’s most extraordinary psychological drama is led at the Donmar this winter by David Tennant, who plays the title role for the first time in his illustrious stage career. Donmar Associate Director Max Webster (Henry V, Life of Pi) directs.
David Tennant returns to the Donmar to play Macbeth – he previously appeared in Lobby Hero (Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor). His other theatre credits include Good (Harold Pinter Theatre, Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor); Don Juan in Soho (Wyndham’s Theatre,winner of WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor); Much Ado About Nothing (Wyndham’s Theatre); Richard II (RSC/Barbican/BAM, winner of WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor); Hamlet (winner of Critics Circle Award for Best Shakespearean Performance); Love’s Labour’s Lost; Romeo and Juliet; Comedy of Errors; The Rivals; As You Like It; The Herbal Bed; The General from America (RSC); Look Back in Anger (Royal Lyceum Edinburgh/Theatre Royal Bath, CATS Award); The Pillowman; What the Butler Saw (National Theatre); Push Up (Royal Court); Comedians (Exeter/Oxford); King Lear; An Experienced Woman Gives Advice (Royal Exchange Theatre); Vassa (Albery); The Real Inspector Hound/Black Comedy (Comedy Theatre); Hurlyburly (Queen’s Theatre); Long Day’s Journey into Night; The Glass Menagerie (Dundee Rep). TV includes Doctor Who (BAFTA Wales Best Actor, TV Times award, four National Television Awards and three TV Choice awards for Best Actor); Des (International Emmy Award for Best Actor, Broadcasting Press Guild Award for best actor, and National Television Award, Most Popular Drama Performance); Litvenenko; Good Omens; Inside Man; Staged; Around the World in 80 Days; Criminal; Deadwater Fell; There She Goes; Jessica Jones; Camping; Broadchurch (three TV Choice awards for best actor, Crime Writers Association award for Best Actor); W1A; Gracepoint (People’s Choice Award); The Escape Artist (BAFTA Scotland Award); The Politician’s Husband; Spies of Warsaw; Playhouse Presents: The Minor Character; True Love; Twenty Twelve; This is Jinsy; United; Single Father (TV Choice Award for Best Actor); The Sarah Jane Adventures; Hamlet; The Catherine Tate Show; Einstein and Eddington; Extras; Learners; Recovery (Royal Television Society Award nomination for Best Actor); The Chatterley Affair; Secret Smile; The Quatermass Experiment; Casanova; Blackpool; He Knew He Was Right; Terri McIntyre; Posh Nosh; Trust; Foyle’s War; People Like Us; Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased); The Mrs Bradley Mysteries; Love in the 21st Century; Duck Patrol; The Tales of Para Handy; Dramarama; Rab C Nesbitt; Takin’ Over the Asylum; and for film, Mary Queen of Scots; Bad Samaritan; You, Me & Him; Mad to Be Normal; What We Did on Our Holiday; Fright Night; The Decoy Bride; Glorious 39; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; Bright Young Things; Being Considered; The Last September; LA Without A Map; Jude.
Max Webster is an Associate Director at the Donmar Warehouse where he has directed Henry V. Max’s other work as a theatre director includes Life of Pi (Sheffield Crucible/West End/Boston/Broadway, Olivier Award nomination for Best Director); Antigone; As You Like It; Twelfth Night (Regent’s Park Open Air); The Lorax (The Old Vic/Children’s Theatre, Minneapolis/Old Globe, San Diego), Fanny and Alexander and Cover My Tracks (The Old Vic), The Sea of Fertility and Mary Stuart (Parco, Japan), The Jungle Book and King Lear (Royal & Derngate, Northampton/UK Tour), The Winter’s Tale (Lyceum, Edinburgh), The Twits (Curve, Leicester), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe/World Tour), James and the Giant Peach and My Generation (WYP), Orlando, To Kill a Mockingbird and My Young and Foolish Heart (Royal Exchange, Manchester), The Chalk Circle (Aarohan Theatre, Kathmandu) and Carnival Under the Rainbow and Feast Kakulu (Hilton Arts Festival, South Africa). Film Credits include The Lorax: In Camera (Old Vic) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical (Sky Arts/NBC). Opera credits include La Bohème (Goteborg Opera, Sweden) and The Merry Widow (ENO). Nominated for the Olivier Award, Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Director.
Henry V Schools’ Tour Creative Team:
Inspired by the Donmar Warehouse production of HENRY V directed by Max Webster
Director: Dadiow Lin
Designer Roisin Jenner
Movement Director: Liam Francis
Fight Director: Philip d’Orléans
Sound Designer and Composer: Dom Coyote
Assistant Director Alessandra Davison
Education Pack: Jordana Golbourn & Studio Certain
The Theatre Royal Haymarket Writers Award:
Hannah was awarded the 2022 Alfred Fagon Award for her play GO BACK HOME! and received the 2022-3 Sky Arts RSL Writers Award for Playwriting. She is also an alumnus of the Royal Court Introduction to Playwriting Group and a graduate of the 2020-1 4Screenwriting scheme, on which she wrote her first TV pilot LIMBO.
Mufaro’s first play, SHEBEEN, opened at the Nottingham Playhouse in June 2018 and then transferred to the Theatre Royal Stratford East. SHEBEEN was the winner of the Alfred Fagon Award for best new play 2017. His most recent play, MALINDADZIMU, opened at the Hampstead Theatre in September 2021.
DONMAR WAREHOUSE
LISTINGS
41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9LX
Members Priority Booking:
Patrons (Steel, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum) Friday 5 May from midday online and on the phone
Best Friends: Wednesday 10 May from 9am online and midday on the phone
Friends: Friday 12 May from 9am online and midday on the phone
Public booking:
Tuesday 16 May from 9am online and midday on the phone
Box Office: www.donmarwarehouse.com / 020 3282 3808
PERFORMANCE TIMES
Private Lives
Evenings Mon – Sat: 7.45pm
Tuesday matinees (2, 9, 23 May) 2.30pm
Wednesday matinee (17 May) 2.30pm
Thursday matinees (4, 11, 25 May) 2.30pm
Saturday matinees (15, 22, 29 April, 13, 20, 27 May) 2.30pm
When Winston went to War with the Wireless, Next to Normal, Clyde’s
Evenings Mon – Sat: 7.30pm
Matinees Thu & Sat: 2.30pm
Macbeth
Evenings Mon – Sat: 7.30pm
Tuesday matinee (2 Jan) 2.30pm
Thursday matinees (4, 11, 25 Jan, 8 Feb) 2.30pm
Saturday matinees 2.30pm
No performances 24 Dec – 1 Jan
TICKET PRICES
Private Lives, When Winston went to War with the Wireless, Clyde’s
£60 / £55 (£50) / £41 (£38) / £21 (£19)
£10 standing tickets
*Preview discounts apply to the first four performances only
Next to Normal
£65 / £60 (£55) / £45 (£41) / £23 (£21)
£10 standing tickets
*Preview discounts apply to the first four performances only
Macbeth
£69 (£64) / £48 (£43), £25 (£23)
£15 standing tickets
*Preview discounts apply to the first four performances only
For Macbeth, standing tickets will be released for purchase online from 12pm on the day of the performance. Please note you will not be able to purchase standing tickets in person or over the phone.
*Bookers of Under 30s £10 tickets will be required to show photo ID to collect their tickets at Box Office and must be aged under 30 at the date of attendance.
Every booking made online, via telephone or in person is subject to a £1.50 transaction fee
YOUNG+FREE
YOUNG+FREE tickets for 16-25 year olds released by ballot. Sign up at www.donmarwarehouse.com.
Generously supported by IHS Markit.
DONMAR DAILY
New tickets on sale every day at the Donmar. Allocations of tickets will be made available every day for performances 7 days later. Tickets will be available across the auditorium at every price band.
ACCESS
The Donmar Warehouse is fully wheelchair accessible. Guide dogs and hearing dogs are welcome in the auditorium. There is a Loop system and a Radio Frequency system fitted in the main auditorium and there are also hearing loops at all the front of house counters.
Wheelchair space prices vary across all price bands, check the website for details
ASSISTED PERFORMANCES
If you require a companion to attend the Donmar, their ticket will be free. To book call 020 3282 3808 or email [email protected].
For all other access enquiries or bookings call 020 3282 3808.
CAPTIONED PERFORMANCES (captioned by Stagetext)
Private Lives: Monday 22 May 7.45pm
When Winston went to War with the Wireless: Monday 17 July 7.30pm
Next to Normal: Monday 25th September 7.30pm
Clyde’s: Monday 20 November 2024 7.30pm
Macbeth: Monday 29 January 2024, 7.30pm
AUDIO DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE – 2.30pm (audio-described by VocalEyes)
Private Lives: Saturday 27 May
When Winston went to War with the Wireless: Saturday 8 July
Next to Normal: Saturday 30th September
Clyde’s: Saturday 25 November
Macbeth: Saturday 27 January 2024, 2.30pm
BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETED PERFORMANCES
Private Lives: Saturday 13 May 2.30pm
When Winston Went to War with the Wireless: Saturday 22 July 2.30pm
Next to Normal: Saturday 23rd September 2.30pm
SEASON AT A GLANCE:
PRIVATE LIVES
Until 27 May 2023
Captioned: Monday 22 May 7.45pm
Audio-Described: Saturday 27 May 2.30pm
British Sign Language Interpreted: Saturday 13 May 2.30pm
WHEN WINSTON WENT TO WAR WITH THE WIRELESS
2 June – 29 July 2023
Captioned: Monday 17 July 7.30pm
Audio-Described: Saturday 8 July 2.30pm
British Sign Language Interpreted: Saturday 22 July 2.30pm
NEXT TO NORMAL
12 August – 7 October 2023
Press night: Tuesday 22 August
Captioned: Monday 25 September, 7.30pm
Audio-Described: Saturday 30 September, 2.30pm
British Sign Language Interpreted: Saturday 23 September, 2.30pm
CLYDE’S
13 October – 2 December 2023
Captioned performance: Monday 20 November 2024, 7.30pm
Audio described performance: Saturday 25 November, 2.30pm
MACBETH
8 December – 10 February 2024
Captioned performance: Monday 29 January 2024, 7.30pm
Audio described performance: Saturday 27 January 2024, 2.30pm