JENNA RUSSELL, TYRONE HUNTLEY, HARRY HEPPLE & EMILY LANE
The show reunites Imelda with DOMINIC COOKE,
the director of their acclaimed production of Follies
Jerry Herman’s unforgettable score includes
Put On Your Sunday Clothes, Before the Parade Passes By,
It Only Takes a Momentand Hello, Dolly!
Performances begin at The London Palladium on Saturday 6 July 2024
Wednesday 20 March, London: Michael Harrison is thrilled to announce the complete cast for this summer’s new production of Hello, Dolly!, as one of the most iconic musicals of all time comes to The London Palladium.
With an unforgettable score by the legendary Jerry Herman, Hello, Dolly! will begin performances at The London Palladium on Saturday 6 July 2024 for a strictly limited 10-week season (Press Night: Thursday 18 July).
Multi-Olivier and BAFTA Award-winning Imelda Staunton plays meddlesome socialite turned matchmaker Dolly Levi, as she travels to Yonkers, New York to find a match for the miserly, unmarried ‘half-a-millionaire’ Horace Vandergelder. But everything changes when she decides that the next match she needs to make is for herself.
The production will also star:
Andy Nyman – who will play Horace Vandergelder – is a multi-award-winning actor, writer and director. Most recently he won unanimous acclaim for his memorable portrayal of Tevye in the celebrated production of Fiddler On The Roof at the Menier Chocolate Factory and its subsequent transfer to the Playhouse Theatre.
Nyman’s acting credits include the Royal Court production of Hangmen and the West End hit Ghost Stories, which he also created and starred in the film adaptation. His various TV roles include Winston Churchill in Peaky Blinders and he has frequently collaborated with illusionist Derren Brown, co-writing and co-directing four of his stage shows.
Olivier Award winner Jenna Russell will play Irene Molloy. Jenna recently starred in the UK premiere of The Bridges of Madison County. She won an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2006 for her performance in Sunday In The Park With George at the Menier Chocolate Factory (a performance she later reprised on Broadway) and was nominated for her work in the Menier’s 2012 revival of Merrily We Roll Along. She also appeared in the acclaimed, London premiere production of Fun Home the Young Vic.
Tyrone Huntley, who will play Barnaby Tucker. Tyrone was nominated for an Olivier Award for his performance as Judas in the widely acclaimed production of Jesus Christ Superstar at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. He was also previously in the original London casts of Dreamgirls and The Book of Mormon.
Harry Hepple, who will play Cornelius Hackl, has previously performed in Follies at the National Theatre and Romantics Anonymous at Bristol Old Vic.
The production today announces that Emily Lane (Frozen, Theatre Royal Drury Lane) will play Minnie Fay.
The full company includes: Leo Abad, Craig Armstrong, Lindsay Atherton, Gemma Atkins, Alan Bradshaw, Jabari Braham, Kevin Brewis, Jenni Bowden, Daisy Boyles, Samara Casteallo, Olly Christopher, Brendan Cull, Hayley Diamond, Jacqueline Hughes, Ashlee Irish, Jodie Jacobs, Shirley Jameson, Paul Kemble, Emily Langham, Michael Lin, Amira Matthews, Laura Medforth, Matt Overfield, Tom Partridge, Wendy-Lee Purdy, Edwin Ray, Phil Snowden, Kraig Thornber, Gavin Wilkinson and Liam Wrate.
With music and lyrics by Jerry Herman (La Cage aux Folles, Mack and Mabel, Mame) and book by Michael Stewart (42nd Street, Mack and Mabel, Barnum),Hello, Dolly! is one of the most iconic musicals of all time. Jerry Herman’s timeless score includes ‘Put On Your Sunday Clothes’, ‘Ribbons Down My Back’, ‘Before the Parade Passes By’, ‘Elegance’, ‘It Only Takes a Moment’ and of course, ‘Hello, Dolly!’.
This brand-new production reunites Imelda with director Dominic Cooke,following their spectacular, critically acclaimed production ofStephen Sondheim’s Follies at the National Theatre.
Hello, Dolly! also reunites Imelda Staunton with producer Michael Harrison. Their production of Gypsy at the Savoy Theatre was awarded the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival, and for which Imelda also won the Olivier Award for Best Actress In A Musical for her acclaimed portrayal of Momma Rose.
Hello, Dolly! is produced by Michael Harrison, Gavin Kalin, Aaron Glick, Creative Partners Productions, Jonathan Church Theatre Productions, Crossroads Live and Jake Hine.
It was all just a matter of time. And finally, the wait is over.The foot-stomping new musical, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON will transfer to the West End’s Ambassadors Theatre from Thursday 10 October 2024.The productioncaptured hearts last year with its sold-out Southwark Playhouserun – winning Best Musical Theatre Production at the 2024 Off West End Awards. Full cast and creative team will be announced soon.
An electrifying journey through the timeless tale of a love that defies all odds, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON is an enchantingly beautiful and truly unordinary musical that reminds us to make every second count. With a breathtaking soundtrack brought to life by an extraordinary actor-musician ensemble, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic short story is relocated to a fishing village on the north coast of Cornwall by writing team Jethro Compton and Darren Clark.
Under the light of a full moon, something most curious occurs… Benjamin Button is born old. Bound to the fate of growing younger each day, Benjamin wants nothing more than to live a little life. But will he ever find a place to belong? Only time and tide will tell…
The show’s director, Jethro Compton, said today: “This show has gone on the most incredible journey over the last seven years. What’s even more incredible, is the journey is only really just beginning. Button started life as a scrappy little show with a big heart, but the love it’s been shown by our audiences has allowed it to grow into something ready for the West End. We’re so unbelievably grateful for everyone’s support – and we can’t wait to continue this journey with you all.”
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON is based on the short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby and The Tender and the Damned. With Book & Lyrics by Jethro Compton and Music & Lyrics by Darren Clark. It is produced by ATG Productions, Gary Beestone Associates, Gavin Kalin Productions, Eilene Davidson Productions, Umeda Arts Theater, and Jethro Compton Productions.
DEAFINITELY THEATRE’S WORLD PREMIERE OF THE PROMISE COMING TO THE REP THIS APRIL
Birmingham Rep’s striking world premiere, made in association with acclaimed British theatre company Deafinitely Theatre (The Vagina Monologues, Everyday and 4.48 Psychosis) and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre will play in The Door from Saturday 6 April for a limited run only. Written by Deafinitely Theatre’s Artistic Director Paula Garfield and Melissa Mostyn. The Promise is a new play inspired by the extraordinary experiences of deaf people living with dementia. The production is also directed by Garfield in the company’s renowned highly visual style combining British Sign Language and Spoken English.
The play highlights how dementia affects those in the deaf community and their families through Spoken English and British Sign Language (BSL).
Rita is really confused.
She can’t understand why the deaf education system she’s tirelessly championed throughout her teaching career is getting worse and worse, or why there is only one care home in the whole of England that looks after people in her language. On the Isle of Wight.
She’s also confused about where her family is, and why she can’t remember where the milk goes…
Garfield, said “The idea for The Promise has been in my mind for a long time, influenced by my family’s experience with dementia. Melissa and I have dedicated over two years crafting and refining the play from our personal perspectives and working closely with the deaf community. I can’t wait to collaborate with this outstanding cast and look forward to getting stuck in to exploring family dynamics and the strength of human connections when rehearsals start in March.”
Melissa Mostyn adds “I feel privileged to be working with Deafinitely Theatre as co-writer of The Promise, a heartfelt story about a deaf family grappling with the effects of dementia. Their standards are high, and the cast they’ve just announced are exemplary. Having seen the actors at work, I’m beyond excited to see them bring The Promise to life.”
Garfield directs James Boyle, Erin Hutching, Louis Neethling and Anna Seymour. Completing the creative team are Paul Burgess (Set & Costume Design), Holly Ellis (Lighting Design), Marie Zschommler (Sound Design) and Ben Glover (AV Design).
The Promise opens here at The Rep from Sat 6 to Sat 13 May. Tickets are on sale from £10, to book tickets visit Birmingham-rep.co.uk or call 0121 236 4455.*
DONMAR WAREHOUSE ANNOUNCES FULL CAST FOR CHEKHOV’S THE CHERRY ORCHARD
IN A NEW VERSION ADAPTED AND DIRECTED BY
BENEDICT ANDREWS
The Donmar Warehouse today announces the full cast for Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, in a new version and directed by Benedict Andrews. Joining the previously announced Nina Hoss (Liubov Ranevskaya), and Adeel Akhtar (Ermolai Lopakhin), are Sarah Amankwah (Charlotta), Nathan Armarkwei Laryea (Yasha), David Ganly (Boris Simeonov-Pishchik), Michael Gould (Gaev), Éanna Hardwicke (Semyon Epikhodov), Daniel Monks (Pyotr Trofimov), Marli Siu (Varya), Sadie Soverall (Anya), Posy Sterling (Dunyasha), and June Watson (Firs).
The production opens on 2 May, with previews from 26 April, and runs until 22 June.
THE CHERRY ORCHARD
by Anton Chekhov
in a new version by Benedict Andrews
26 April – 22 June 2024
Director: Benedict Andrews; Designer: Magda Willi; Costume Designer: Merle Hensel; Lighting Designer: James Farncombe; Sound Designer: Dan Balfour; Composer: May Kershaw of Black Country, New Road; Voice Coach: William Conacher; Assistant Director: Neetu Singh; Casting Director: Anna Cooper CDG
Can anyone persuade Ranevskaya and her aristocratic household that the world is changing, and they must too?
Following internationally acclaimed productions of The Seagull (Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney) and Three Sisters (Young Vic, London), director Benedict Andrews has a reputation as one of the world’s leading interpreters of Chekhov.
For the Donmar Warehouse he stages the great writer’s final play. It’s a work that predicted and captured the end of an era, but is timeless in its humanity, prescience, humour and pathos. The Cherry Orchard is Chekhov’s masterpiece.
Adeel Akhtar plays Ermolai Lopakhin. His theatre credits include A Christmas Carol (West End), Hamlet (Young Vic), Satyagraha (Improbable), Wuthering Heights (Tamasha), In My Name (Old Red Lion/Trafalgar Studios) and Zero (Theatre Absolute).His television credits include Showtrial,Sweet Tooth,Sherwood, Killing Eve, Back to Life, Les Misérables,Ghosted,Counterpart,Fairy Job, Unforgotten, Apple Tree Yard, The Night Manager, Capital, River,The Job Lot, Utopia, Trollied, and Angelos Epithemiou’s Moving On; and for film Murder Mystery 2, Enola Holmes 2, Save The Cinema, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Ali & Ava, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Enola Holmes, The Nest, The Show, Murder Mystery, Swimming with Men, Victoria and Abdul, Hampstead, The Big Sick, Pan, War Book, Convenience, Jadoo, The Dictator, Stranger Things, Four Lions, Traitor, The Last Dragonslayer, The Circuit, Murdered by My Father and Let’s Roll: The Story of Flight 93.
Sarah Amankwah plays Charlotta. Her theatre credits include Possession (Arcola Theatre), Henry V, Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2, Richard III, Doctor Faustus (Shakespeare’s Globe), Amadeus, The Threepenny Opera, Death and the King’s Horsemen (National Theatre), The Crucible, Skriker (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre), De Gabay (National Theatre of Wales), Tiata Tamba Tamba (Tiata Fahodzi), Shakespeare 365 (Orange Tree Theatre), Six Characters in Search of an Author, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Aquila Festival/US tour), Fair Trade (Latitude/Rich Mix) and 24 Hour Plays (The Old Vic). For television, her work includes Doctor Who, Black Earth Rising and Marcella; and for film, Dungeons and Dragons and World War Z.
Nathan Armarkwei Laryea plays Yasha. His theatre work includes A Strange Loop (Barbican), Women, Beware the Devil, Spring Awakening (Almeida Theatre), Hamlet, Faith, Hope and Charity, Tartuffe (National Theatre), Homo Sacer (The Old Vic 12), Her Naked Skin (Salisbury Playhouse), The 306 (National Theatre of Scotland), Vernon God Little (The Space/Burn Bright Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Exeter Northcote), The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre), and Whistle Down the Wind (West End). For television, his work includes The Witcher and Doctor Who; and for film, In Darkness.
David Ganly returns to the Donmar to play Boris Simeonov-Pishchik, having previously appeared inAristocrats. His other theatre includes On Blueberry Hill (Trafalgar/59E59 Theatre), Girl from the North Country (Toronto, Gielgud Theatre/Noël Coward Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith), The Velveteen Rabbit (Unicorn Theatre), Lonesome West (Tron Theatre), The Plough & the Stars (Abbey Theatre/US tour), Once (Landmark Productions), Shadow of a Gunman (Abbey Theatre/Lyric Theatre, Belfast), Uncle Vanya (West Yorkshire Playhouse/ETT), Shakespeare in Love (Noël Coward Theatre), Drum Belly; The Cavalcaders, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, Philadelphia Here I Come (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), King Lear (Theatre Royal Bath), The Threepenny Opera; The Weir (Gate Theatre, Dublin), Macbeth (Sheffield Theatres), Of Mice and Men (The Watermill Theatre, Newbury), The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The End of the Beginning (Young Vic), TheWizard of Oz (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Field; John Bull’s Other Island; The Cavalcaders (Tricycle Theatre), Translations (National Theatre),The Quare Fellow; Americans The Contractor (Oxford Stage Company), The Lonesome West (Broadway Lyceum Theatre), Dancing at Lughnasa (Salisbury Playhouse), Chicago (Cambridge Theatre), The Full Monty (Prince of Wales Theatre)The Talented Mr Ripley (Watford Palace Theatre), The Leenane Trilday – The Lonesome West (Royal Court Theatre); The Merchant of Venice (Belfast Lyric Theatre), and The Risen People (Dublin Gaiety Theatre). For television, his work includes Say Nothing; Breathtaking, Moon Knight, The Crown, Ridley Road Citizen Charlie and Upwardly Mobile; and for film, The Dead from the Sea, Gladiator 2, Body of Lies, Dorothy Mills, Hippie Hippie Shake and Spacetruckers.
Michael Gould plays Gaev. His theatre credits includes King Lear, The Writer, Vassa (Almeida), Pygmalion (The Old Vic), A View from the Bridge, Hamlet, The Jungle; A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Young Vic), Kerry Jackson, All of Us, Anna, Our Class, Women of Troy, Attempts on Her Life, Waves, The Seagull, Earthquakes in London, The Oresteia, Pillars of the Community (National Theatre), The Audience (West End), The Merchant of Venice, Swive, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, King Lear, The Winter’s Tale, In Extremis (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Ugly One (Royal Court), Othello (ETT/ Great Theatre of China, Shanghai/ Dubai Opera House), Dealing with Clair (Orange Tree Theatre), Othello, The Phoenician Women, Hamlet, The Theban Trilogy (RSC), Pericles (Lyric Hammersmith), Pressure Drop (Wellcome Collection), The Lesson (Arcola), Other Hands (Soho), Cruel and Tender (Young Vic and tour), The Crucible (Sheffield Crucible). Television includes: There She Goes, I Am Maria; Showtrial, You Don’t Know Me, Sister Boniface, Manhunt, Black Earth Rising, Man Down, Into the Badlands, The Trial: A Murder in the Family, Decline and Fall, The Conversation, Lucan, Silk, Silent Witness, Mr Sloane, Coup, The Bletchley Circle, Secret State, Getting On, Wallander, Free Agents, Ashes to Ashes, Grandma’s House, The Long Walk to Finchley, Waking the Dead, David Kelly, Green Wing, Wire in the Blood, EastEnders, State of Play. Film includes One Life, Darkest Hour, Jitterbug, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Undergods, The Duke, Room 8 (BAFTA for Best Short Film).
Éanna Hardwicke plays Semyon Epikhodov. His theatre work includes Attachment (Dublin Theatre Festival), Druid Debuts: The Mouth of the Birch (Druid Theatre Company), The Misfit Mythology (Cork Arts Theatre), and Macbeth (Mill Productions). His television work includes A Very Royal Scandal, The Doll Factory, The Sixth Commandment, Smother, Fate: The Winx Saga, and Normal People.
Nina Hoss plays Liubov Ranevskaya. Her theatre credits include Notes from the Underground (Ruhrtriennale), Returning to Reims (Manchester International Festival/Schaubühne Berlin/St Ann‘s Warehouse, New York), Bella Figura, The Little Foxes (Schaubühne Berlin), at the Deutsches Theater Berlin: Tape, Children of the Sun, Der Einsame Weg, Die Präsidentinnen, Die Fledermaus, Groß und Klein, Medea (she won the prestigious Eysoldt Ring prize for her performance), Faust II, Minna Von Barnhelm, Emilia Galotti, Don Carlos, Verratenes Volk, Twelfth Night or what you will (Schauspielhaus Zürich); and at the Berliner Ensemble: Leonce und Lena/Robert Wilson, Unerwartete Rückkehr, ZigarrenJedermann (Salzburg Festival). TV includes: Jack Ryan, The Defeated, Shadow Play, Criminal: Germany, Homeland (Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series), Bloch, Leonce und Lena, Something to Remind Me, A Girl Called Rosemary. Films include: Langue Etrangere, Tár, My Little Sister, Barbara, Phoenix, A Most Wanted Man, Yella (Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear Award for Best Actress), The Contractor, Violence of Action, Pelican Blood, The Audition, Return to Montauk, Gold, Summer Window, We Are the Night, Jerichow, The Downfall of Berlin: Anonyma, The Anarchist’s Wife,The Heart is a Dark Forest, The White Massai, Wolfsburg, Naked, Der Vulkan. Nina Hoss received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2013) and was also appointed a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France (2015).
Daniel Monks returns to the Donmar to play Pyotr Trofimov – he previously appeared in Teenage Dick – Winner of Best Performer in a Play at The Stage Debut Awards 2020. His other theatre credits include The Seagull (Harold Pinter Theatre), The Normal Heart (National Theatre), Teenage Dick (Donmar Warehouse), Lord of the Flies (Sydney Theatre Company) and The Real and Imagined History of The Elephant Man (Malthouse Theatre, Sydney – for which he was nominated for a Helpmann Award and Green Room Award for Best Lead Actor in a Play). His television work includes Dead Hot, Kaos, Silent Witness and The Split; and for film, Ricky Stanicky, In the Room Where He Waits, Sissy, Marley, and Someone. Also for film, he wrote, produced, edited and starred in Pulse – which won the Busan Bank Award at the Busan International Film Festival 2017 and for which he was nominated for the Australian Academy Award (AACTA) for Best Lead Actor in a Film.
Marli Siu plays Varya. Her theatre work includes The Ocean at the End of the Lane (National Theatre), Misalliance (Orange Tree Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing, Little Red and the Wolf, and The Witness for the Prosecution (Dundee Rep Theatre). For television, her work includes Everything I Know About Love, Alex Rider – as series regular Kyra, The Irregulars, Grantchester and Still Game; and for film, Apartment 7A, Our Ladies, Run and Anna and the Apocalypse.
Saide Soverall by Pip
Sadie Soverall plays Anya. Her theatre credits include Still Life (Edinburgh Fringe). Her television credits include Fate: The Winx Saga and The Gathering; and for film, Saltburn, Arcadian, and Little Bone Lodge.
Posy Sterling plays Dunyasha. Her theatre work includes Dixon and Daughters, Faith, Hope and Charity (National Theatre), The Taxidermist’s Daughter (Chichester Festival Theatre), Sweatbox (Royal Court Theatre), and Belong (Arcola Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith). For television her work includes World on Fire; and for film, Lollipop and The Outrun.
Veteran of the stage and screen, June Watson returns to the Donmar to play Firs – she previously appeared in A Doll’s House, Part 2. Her extensive theatre credits include Sea Creatures, Uncle Vanya, Good People (Hampstead Theatre); As You Like It (@Sohoplace); After Life,The Welkin, John, Scenes from the Big Picture, The Good Hope, Our Lady of Sligo, Cardiff East, The Prince’s Play, Le Cid, Rutherford and Son, Machinal, Billy Liar, Whale, Garden of England, As I Lay Dying, The Beggar’s Opera, Lark Rise, The Passion, The World Turned Upside Down, The Long Voyage Home, Il Campiello,State of the Revolution (National Theatre); Road, Kosher Harry, Beside Herself, Saved, Small Change, Life Price, Glasshouses (Royal Court Theatre); Escaped Alone (Royal Court Theatre/ BAM/ UK tour); The Father, Mrs Lowry and Son (Trafalgar Studios); The Cripple of Inishmaan – Clarence Derwent Award (Noël Coward Theatre/ Broadway); Before the Party, Hippolytus (Almeida Theatre); Uncle Vanya (Vaudeville Theatre); Calendar Girls (UK tour); Another Door Closed (Theatre Royal Bath); Aristo (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Children’s Hour (Royal Exchange Theatre); Smaller, Middle Aged Spread (Lyric West End) and Mary Stuart (Apollo Theatre). Her television work includes Whitstable Pearl, The Cockfields, All Creatures Great and Small, The Midnight Gang, Chernobyl, Call the Midwife, To Walk Invisible, Agatha Raisin, Thirteen, Unforgotten, A Song for Jenny, The Café, Wallander, Coming Up and Above Suspicion; and for film, Your Christmas or Mine, The Bike Thief, The Death of Stalin, The Lady in the Van, Ghost Hunter, 102 Dalmatians, Highlander IV: Endgame, The Last Yellow, The Knowledge and Bloody Kids.
Benedict Andrews is a multi-award winning playwright, director, filmmaker and poet. His directing work includes: Ellen B / Ex (Þjóðleikhúsið, Reykjavik), Cosi fan Tutte (Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Young Vic), Medea (Komische Oper Berlin), A Streetcar Named Desire (Young Vic and St Ann’s Warehouse), The Maids (Sydney Theatre Company and Lincoln Centre), Fiery Angel (Komische Oper, Berlin), Macbeth (Þjóðleikhúsið, Reykjavik), Three Sisters (Young Vic), La bohème (ENO and Dutch National Opera), Every Breath (Belvoir Street Theatre), Groß und Klein (Sydney Theatre Company and Barbican), The Seagull (Belvoir Street Theatre), King Lear (Þjóðleikhúsið, Reykjavik), Measure for Measure (Belvoir Street Theatre), Saved (Schaubühne, Berlin), The City (Sydney Theatre Company), The War of the Roses (Sydney Theatre Company), Moving Target (Sydney Opera House), Drunk Enough to Say I Love You (Schaubühne, Berlin), The Ugly One (Schaubühne, Berlin), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Belvoir Street Theatre), Blackbird (Schaubühne, Berlin), Cleansed (Schaubühne, Berlin), Julius Caesar (Sydney Theatre Company), Fireface (Sydney Theatre Company), La Dispute (Sydney Theatre Company.) Plays include Like a Sun, Every Breath, The Stars, Geronimo and Gloria. He has written new versions of The Seagull and Three Sisters, and a version of Jean Genet’s The Maids, with Andrew Upton. Film work includes Una and Seberg. In 2012 Benedict won the London Critics’ Circle Best Director Award for his production of Three Sisters at the Young Vic. His directing work over the years has won him several Gríman Awards, Helpmann Awards, Sydney Theatre Awards and Melbourne Green Room Awards, amongst others.
SEASON AT A GLANCE:
THE HUMAN BODY
Until 13 April 2024
Audio Described performance Saturday 13 April at 2.30pm
THE CHERRY ORCHARD
26 April – 22 June 2024
Audio Described performance Saturday 1 June at 2.30pm
Captioned performance Monday 3 June at 7.30pm
SKELETON CREW
28 June – 24 August 2024
Audio Described performance Saturday 17 August at 2.30pm
Captioned performance Monday 12 August at 7.30pm
DONMAR WEST END:
NEXT TO NORMAL
WYNDHAM’S THEATRE
18 June – 21 September 2024
PERFORMANCE TIMES
Evenings Mon – Sat 7.30pm
Thursday & Saturday matinees 2.30pm
TICKET PRICES*
The Human Body
£60 (£55) | £41 (£38) | £21 (£19) | £15 standing
The Cherry Orchard/Skeleton Crew
£55 (£50) | £41 (£38) | £21 (£19) | £15 standing
Preview discounts apply to the first four performances. Standing tickets are only released when all seats are sold.
*Tickets are subject to a £1.50 transaction fee, waived for Members
BARCLAYS UNDER 30s £10 TICKETS
A limited number of £10 tickets are available for people aged under 30 thanks to generous support from Associate Sponsor Barclays.
YOUNG+FREE
YOUNG+FREE tickets for 16-25 year olds released by ballot. Sign up at www.donmarwarehouse.com.
YOUNG+FREE is generously supported by S&P Global.
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.
ASSISTED PERFORMANCES
If you require a companion to attend the Donmar, their ticket will be free. To book call 020 3282 3808 or email access@donmarwarehouse.com.
For all other access enquiries or bookings call 020 3282 3808.
DONMAR OPENHOUSE
Donmar OpenHouse is a long weekend of free performances and events for groups with which the Donmar has extended and deepened its ties during Michael Longhurst’s five years as Artistic Director. These include schools and community groups in Camden and Westminster, early career and emerging theatre artists, and young people. The event is delivered in partnership with Open Door.
Since 2019 the Donmar has doubled the reach of its schools and community work, including twice touring full scale productions to schools in its local boroughs in response to declining arts provision in schools.
The company has also significantly expanded its talent development work, launching CATALYST, our training programme that creates paid training opportunities for those historically underrepresented in the sector. Since 2019 the programme has helped launch the careers of 31 early career artists and administrators, 90% of whom continue to work in the sector.
Thousands of young people each year get to see the Donmar’s world-class productions through audience development programmes providing heavily discounted or free tickets. These include £10 tickets for under 30s, supported by Barclays for the current, sold-out productions of Clyde’s and Macbeth and the upcoming season, as well as the ongoing Young+Free ticket lottery programme for 16-25 year olds, supported by S&P Global.
Donmar OpenHouse takes place during the run of Skeleton Crew, from 11-13 July 2024
Louise Gold stars in premiere of simmering family drama A Word For Mother by Tim McArthur Upstairs at The Gatehouse, Highgate Village, London N6 4BD Wednesday 1st May – Sunday 26th May 2024
Tim McArthur’s newest play A Word For Mother premieres this spring with an all-female cast and creative team. This simmering family drama, inspired by McArthur’s upbringing, revolves around the intertwined history of four women, sisterly relationships and motherly love. Reunited by their mother’s unexpected passing, the bond between three sisters begins to strain: emotions boil over and childhood lies are revealed. How far does the apple fall from the tree?
Puppeteer, singer and star of screen and stage, Louise Gold, plays matriarch Pru in this exploration of family dynamics. Gold is best known for her West End career and performances in multiple Muppets’ productions. Further credits include The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix), Fiddler on the Roof (The Playhouse) and Botticelli in the Fire (Hampstead Theatre).
Gold is joined by a powerful cast of Abigail Moore (Kiss Me Quickstep, New Vic Theatre; Honour, ITV), Heather Johnson (The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd, The Orange Tree Theatre; Horrible Christmas, Birmingham Stage Company), and Melaina Pecorini (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Palace Theatre; The Big Red Bath, UK tour) as the trio of sisters Charity, Faith and Hope.
Having gathered in the kitchen of their family home after the passing of their mother, three grief-stricken daughters must learn to navigate a new family dynamic. The play unravels a family history, moving from the present day to complex childhoods. Each sister reflects on their own relationship with their mother as secrets, rivalries and hidden feelings come bubbling to the surface. Will the sisters’ bond survive the emerging emotions and unfolding tensions?
Writer Tim McArthur is a local Highgate resident and performed in Upstairs at The Gatehouse’s first ever Christmas production in 1999. He comments, The play explores many emotions including forgiveness, but at the end of the day it’s a play with heart and a celebration of the female dynamic. I have asked myself what do I want people to take away from the play. I think for an audience to chat about grief as we don’t in this country. It’s still a taboo subject and yet when someone has a baby, we all go nuts for it. But if someone dies, we feel we all have to be sad, hide away and not express our emotions – that terrible British stiff upper lip scenario.
A Word For Mother is produced by Helen and Paul Matthews.
LEICESTER’S CURVE ANNOUNCES HOST OF NEW MADE AT CURVE PRODUCTIONS
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Directed and adapted by Cara Nolan
13 – 15 June 2024
A Made at Curve and De Montfort University co-production
FANTASTIC FOXES
By Rob Ward
26 July – 3 August 2024
A Made at Curve Community production
THE MOUNTAINTOP
By Katori Hall
21 September – 5 October 2024
A Made at Curve and MAST Mayflower Studios co-production Directed by Nathan Powell
PIRATES LOVE UNDERPANTS
Based on the book by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort 2 December 2024 – 5 January 2025
A Made at Curve production
Directed by Cara Nolan | Adapted by Brad Fitt
Leicester’s Curve has announced details of four new Made at Curve productions joining its line-up in 2024.
Announced at the theatre’s Season Preview event on Monday 18 March, the four new shows include a fresh and riotous adaptation of Jane Austen’sPride and Prejudice, a community production of Leicester City Football Club inspired drama Fantastic Foxes, a revival of Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop and a world premiere family adaptation of Claire Freedman and Ben Cort’s picture-book, Pirates Love Underpants, which will run alongside Curve’s previously announced production of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady this Christmas.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
13 – 15 June
From Thursday 13 to Saturday 15 June, Curve and De Montfort University (DMU) will present a brand-new retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Adapted and directed by Curve’s Associate Director Cara Nolan – who also directed the 2023 Curve and DMU co-production of Jim Cartwright’sRoad– the lively and riotous take on Austen’s classic romance will be performed by drama students from the university.
‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife…’
Mr Darcy does not want a wife and Elizabeth Bennet does not need a husband. But when their paths cross, the greatest reluctant love story of all time begins. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice?
Expect regency romance, rebellion, wit and many a well-penned letter!
FANTASTIC FOXES
26 July – 3 August
This summer, Curve’s Community Production returns with new play Fantastic Foxes, the story of Leicester, its people and its title-winning football club. Written by Curve Resident Creative Rob Ward, the production will run in Curve’s Studio Theatre from Friday 26 July to Saturday 3 August.
This is the story of a remarkable city, fearless underdogs and Fantastic Foxes. The story of a football club and its generations of devoted fans.
From the creation of the Leicester Fosse team in 1884, to the first silverware in 1890, the great escape of 2015 and the 5000-1 Premier League win of 2016 – plus all the heartache and elation along the way: no matter how our city has changed over the years, we’ve always been united as the Blue Army.
This summer at Curve, a community ensemble brings the real (and sometimes imagined) story of our city and club to life on stage, where Jamie Vardy’s having a party, Gordon Banks has the safest gloves in the land and Gary Lineker’s picking out his best pants.
THE MOUNTAINTOP
21 September – 5 October
Following the success of Curve’s 2023 rehearsed-reading of Katori Hall’s Olivier Award-winning play The Mountaintop, the theatre is now set to stage a full new production of the drama. Once again directed by Nathan Powell (Sucker Punch, Dogs, The Lies You Tell) and with returning cast members Ray Strasser-King (Sucker Punch) and Justina Kehinde (Girl From the North Country), the Made at Curve and MAST Mayflower Studios co-production will run in Curve’s Studio Theatre from Saturday 21 September to Saturday 5 October, before visiting MAST Mayflower Studios Wednesday 9 to Saturday 12 October. Further details of a tour will be announced in due course.
The Mountaintop is sponsored by Leicester-based music licensing company PPL PRS as part of Black History Month at Curve.
After making his monumental ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ speech against the advice of his colleagues on Wednesday 3rd April, 1968, Dr Martin Luther King checks into room 306 of the Lorraine Motel. Exhausted, conflicted and alone, he orders room service, but instead finds himself served with some unexpected questions from the audacious waitress who unflinchingly cross-examines the makings and misgivings of a hero.
The Mountaintop explores the place where hope and history converge in this captivating, emotional and heart-stopping retelling of Dr. Martin Luther King’s last night on this earth.
PIRATES LOVE UNDERPANTS
2 December 2024 – 5 January 2025
Curve has also announced the title of its Made at Curve family show this Christmas, a new adaptation of Claire Freedman and Ben Cort’s swashbuckling picture book, Pirates Love Underpants. The story will be adapted for the stage by Brad Fitt and, following Curve’s hit 2023 production of The Owl Who Came For Christmas, the show will also be directed by Cara Nolan.
First published by Simon and Schuster UK Ltd in 2013, this world premiere Made at Curve production will open at Curve from Monday 2 December 2024 to Sunday 5 January 2025, and is suitable for children aged 3+.
“These pirates SO love underpants!
Join our swashbuckling party of pirates on their quest to find the fabled Pants of Gold for the Captain’s Treasure chest!
Dodge hungry crocs beneath Long-John Bridge, bob upon the waves of Big Knickers Bay, spot sharks in fancy underpants and trek across Three Pants Ridge.
Filled with music, puppetry and glittering pants of gold, arrr you ready to set sail for a family adventure at Curve this winter?
Speaking about the announcements, Curve’s Chief Executive Chris Stafford and Artistic Director Nikolai Foster said:
“We are proud to announce these upcoming Curve shows, which reflect the theatre’s ambition to continue presenting great plays and works which celebrate stories close to home and from across the globe. We were blown away by the power of Katori Hall’s great play The Mountaintop and director Nathan Powell’s inspired work on a staged reading of this mighty homage to Martin Luther King last year. We are now thrilled to be presenting the play in a full production – in collaboration with our friends at MAST in Southampton- and that Nathan and Ray Strasser-King and Justina Kehinde will return to play in this extraordinary theatrical event.
“Equally extraordinary is the story of Leicester City Football Club and we are excited rising star writer Rob Ward returns to Curve to present his new play, Fantastic Foxes with our community ensemble. Having spent time in the city chatting to fans and hearing stories of people’s experiences and how football has been a major part of their lives, Fantastic Foxes is a joyous celebration of our city and our fabulous foxes.
“And looking further ahead, we are thrilled our new Associate Director Cara Nolan directs and adapts our De Montfort University co-production of Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice and is also captain of our festive Studio show for the little ones, Pirates Love Underpants. Following her huge success with The Owl Who Came For Christmas, Pirates Love Underpants promises to be a raucous festive family theatrical feast.”
Alongside new Made at Curve productions, it was also announced that new musical SuperYou will come to Curve as a full production from Tuesday 22 October to Saturday 9 November. With book, music and lyrics by Lourds Lane, the show was originally set to open Off Broadway in spring 2020, but then became the first theatrical show to share live performances during the pandemic with concerts on pick-up trucks in upstate New York. The musical has since become a viral sensation, with clips racking up millions of views worldwide on TikTok, two sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts in 2022 and a concert at the Lyric Theatre in the West End in November 2023.
Life happens. Somehow, we lose touch with our joy, our passion, our power. We forget who the hero is in our own story. Enter SuperYou — the journey of a woman who reconnects with her dreams when her superheroine creations come to life. Featuring mind-blowing female performers, new, iconic superheroines and an instantly singable, anthemic modern rock score, SuperYou is the heartwarming story of a woman remembering the power of her own voice.
Tickets for Pride and Prejudice, Fantastic Foxes, The Mountaintop and Pirates Love Underpants will go on sale to Curve Friends Tuesday 19 March, Curve Supporters Wednesday 20 March, Curve Members, Groups and Access Register Customers Thursday 21 March and on general sale Tuesday 26 March, all at 12noon. To find out more, visit www.curveonline.co.uk, call 0116 242 3595 or visit Curve’s Box Office in-person.
Tickets for SuperYou at Curve will go on sale soon.
Tickets for The Mountaintop at MAST Mayflower Studios will go on sale soon.
Award winning producers Andy Barnes and Wendy Barnes from Global Musicals (SIX, The Choir of Man, Pieces of String, Lift)and Kevin McCollum from Alchemation (Mrs Doubtfire, SIX, Rent, Avenue Q)are delighted to announce the release of the 42 Balloons Studio Cast EP, now available to stream and download here. via Absolute Records.
Grammy-nominated duo Sam Featherstone and Joe Beighton (the orchestrator, arranger and music supervisor on the show) along with the author Jack Godfrey have produced the 80’s infused tracks which were recorded in Miloco Studios, and feature cast members Evelyn Hoskins, Charlie McCullagh, Gillian Hardie, Lejaun Sheppard, Simon Anthony, Jordan Broatch, Maddison Bulleyment, Athena Collins, Morgan Gregory, Luke Latchman, Laura Dawn Pyatt,Tinovimbanashe Sibanda, and Natasha Wilde.
The full cast and crew – currently in rehearsals – came together on Monday 18 March for a special ‘first listen’ party and silent disco at Maggie’s Club – an eighties themed London bar – highlights here.
Tracklist
1. Prologue
2. Big Balloon
3. Somebody’s Story
4. 1982
5. Something As Crazy As This
6. 42 Balloons And A Lawn Chair
7. Lawn Chair Larry
8. Helium (which was released early on 8 March, following an exclusive social media competition where the show’s fans voted for which track to be released first!)
This comes as the premiere production the musical 42 Balloons will be flying into The Lowry, Salford from 18 April – 19 May 2024, with a gala performance on Thursday 2 May. Due to high demand, tickets for previews are now limited, with best availability from 25 April onwards.
Sam Featherstone said, “Working on these tracks has been so much fun: 80s vibes combined with Jack’s catchy songwriting is a perfect match! These 8 songs are a gorgeous snapshot of 42 Balloons. Catchy, epic and a lot of fun to work on. Listen now and then go book tickets to see the show!”
2nd of July 1982.
Using a lawn chair and approximately 42 helium-filled weather balloons, truck driver Larry Walters defied all the odds (and FAA airspace regulations!) to make his lifelong dream a reality and fly sixteen thousand feet above Los Angeles.
No, seriously. In a chair.
42 BALLOONS is an uplifting musical inspired by the highly improbable true story of how Larry, and his partner Carol Van Deusen, convinced their friends and family to help Larry achieve his dream of flying.
Featuring an irresistible, 80s pop-inspired score, 42 BALLOONS questions how far you would go to make your dreams come true. Is the sky actually the limit, and what happens if it doesn’t all go to plan?
The cast for the production at the Lowry will be Charlie McCullagh(Bonnie & Clyde, Dr.Zhivago) and Evelyn Hoskins(Waitress, Gypsy, Spring Awakening) reprising their roles as ‘Larry’ and ‘Carol’ from the 2022 staged concert performances in the West End, alongside be Gillian Hardie (Kinky Boots, Blood Brothers, Bag Girls The Musical) as ‘Carol’s Mom’ and Lejaun Sheppard (The Book of Mormon, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) as ‘Ron’. The rest of the company will comprise Simon Anthony (Guys & Dolls, White Christmas), Jordan Broatch(You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown,Anyone Can Whistle), Maddison Bulleyment (SIX, The Bridges of Madison County), Athena Collins (SIX, Kin The Musical), Morgan Gregory (Elf, Newsies), Matt Jones(Pretty Woman, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory),Luke Latchman (Sunset Boulevard, Millennials), Rebekah Lowings (My Fair Lady, Ghost The Musical), Jamie Pritchard (Les Misérables), Laura Dawn Pyatt (SIX), Tinovimbanashe Sibanda (Guys & Dolls, Moulin Rouge!) and Natasha Wilde (2023 graduate).
42 Balloons has book, music and lyrics by Jack Godfrey whose other works include This is a Love Story (Dundee Rep) and Babies (Lyric).
Ellie Coote (This is a Love Story) is director & dramaturg, with orchestrations, arrangements and musical supervision by Joe Beighton (SIX), choreography by Alexzandra Sarmiento (How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, But I’m A Cheerleader), scenic design by Milla Clarke (Mates In Chelsea, Shooting Hedda Gabler),costume design by Natalie Pryce (VANYA, Newsies), video design by Olivier and Tony Award-winner Andrzej Goulding (Life of Pi, & Juliet), lighting design by Tony and Olivier Award-nominee Bruno Poet (Tina – The Tina Turner Musical, Miss Saigon), sound design by Grammy and Tony Award-nominee Paul Gatehouse (SIX,Mary Poppins),casting by Pearson Casting CDG (SIX) and music direction by Flynn Sturgeon (Roles We’ll Never Play, The Three Little Pigs).
42 Balloons is produced by Andy Barnes & Wendy Barnes for Global Musicals & Kevin McCollum in association with The Lowry, Debbie Hicks, Sam Levy, S&Co and Kenny Wax.
Sonia Friedman Productions (SFP) today release new artwork and announce the on-sale for the strictly limited West End run of Oedipus, a new adaptation created by Robert Icke after Sophocles. Icke directs Mark Strong (OEDIPUS) and Lesley Manville (JOCASTA) with full casting to be announced at a later date.
Also announced are Hildegard Bechtler (Set Design), Wojciech Dziedzic (Costume Design), Natasha Chivers (Lighting Design), Tom Gibbons (Sound Design), Tal Yarden (Video Design) and Julia Horan CDG (Casting Director).
The strictly limited run at Wyndham’s Theatre opens on Tuesday 15 October, with previews from Friday 4 October 2024, and runs until Saturday 4 January 2025.
Behind every great man is a great woman.
Election night. The polls predict a landslide victory. Everything is about to change.
Starring the internationally renowned, multi-award-winning Mark Strong and Lesley Manville, Sophocles’ epic tragedy is transformed into an essential, explosive human thriller.
After his revelatory Oresteia, visionary director Robert Icke (1984, The Doctor) reimagines another Ancient Greek tragedy, bringing the secrets of the past bursting into the present.
Icke’s production was originally produced in Dutch by Internationaal Theater Amsterdam and was presented at the Edinburgh International Festival.
Tickets are on sale for DMT+ members now, with general booking opening on Wednesday 20 March at 10am.
Mark Strong said today, “It’s an immense privilege to be returning to the West End in such incredible company – to take on this role opposite the incomparable Lesley Manville, and to reunite with Robert Icke, undoubtedly one of the great visionary directors currently on the world stage. Rob has brought the story bang up to date with the flair with which he approaches classic text, making his Oedipus a modern thriller for our times.”
Lesley Manville said today, “I’m very excited to return to the West End and take on the role of Jocasta in Robert Icke’s extraordinary adaptation of Oedipus. It’s my first time performing a Greek tragedy and my first time working with the brilliant Mark Strong. Lucky me.”
Robert Icke said today, “I’m delighted to be bringing Oedipus to the West End, and am hugely looking forward to collaborating once more with the matchless Mark Strong and to get to work for the first time with the wonderful Lesley Manville.”
Across the run Sonia Friedman Productions will be offering 1000 tickets at £30 exclusively for those aged 30 and under, reflecting its ongoing commitment to ticket accessibility within the arts. For more details and to hear when these tickets go on-sale, please join the Sonia Friedman Productions mailing list https://www.soniafriedman.com/subscribe
Sonia Friedman Productions presents
Mark Strong and Lesley Manville in
OEDIPUS
Created by Robert Icke, after Sophocles
Set design by Hildegard Bechtler
Costume design by Wojciech Dziedzic
Lighting design by Natasha Chivers
Sound design by Tom Gibbons
Video design by Tal Yarden
Casting by Julia Horan CDG
Wyndham’s Theatre
4 October 2024 – 4 January 2025
Mark Strong (OEDIPUS)
Multi-award-winning actor Mark Strong returns to the stage. He previously appeared in A View from the Bridge (Young Vic, West End and Broadway – Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Play and Tony Award nomination); The Red Barn, Closer, Death of a Salesman, Murmuring Judges, Fuente Ovejuna, Napoli Milionaria, King Lear and Richard III (National Theatre); Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya (Donmar Warehouse – Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor); Speed the Plow (New Ambassadors Theatre); The Iceman Cometh (Almeida Theatre); The Thickness of Skin and The Treatment (Royal Court Theatre); Hess is Dead, The Plantagenets and The Man Who Came To Dinner (RSC).
His television credits include Temple (also series Executive Producer); Deep State; Low Winter Sun; The Long Firm (Broadcast Guild Award for Best Actor and BAFTA nomination); Prime Suspect; Fields of Gold; The Jury; Anna Karenina; Our Friends in the North and the forthcoming Dune: Prophecy (HBO Max).
An acclaimed film actor, he recently appeared in The Critic with Ian McKellen; Dead Shot with Felicity Jones; Nocebo with Eva Green; Murder Mystery 2 with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston (Netflix) and will next appear on screen in various projects including The End We Start From with Jodie Comer and Benedict Cumberbatch; Shadow Force opposite Omar Sy and Kerry Washington and Atlas opposite Jennifer Lopez.
His other film credits include Todd Field’s Tar with Cate Blanchett; Sam Mendes’ 1917; Miss Sloane with Jessica Chastain; Cruella alongside Emma Stone; The Imitation Game with Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley; The Kingsman films with Taron Egerton and Colin Firth; Before I Go To Sleep with Nicole Kidman;Thomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Gary Oldman; Peter Weir’s The Way Back; John Michael McDonagh’s The Guard; Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood with Russell Crowe; Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law; Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern; The Young Victoria opposite Emily Blunt; Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty; Danny Boyle’s Sunshine; Stephen Gaghan’s Syriana with George Clooney; Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist and Thomas Vinterberg’s It’s All About Love.
Lesley Manville (JOCASTA)
Lesley’s notable television credits include Princess Margaret in award-winning drama, The Crown, for Netflix, BBC’s drama Sherwood (for which she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 2023 BAFTAs), which is returning for a second series. Mum (RTS Best Female Comedy Performance and two BAFTA nominations for Best Female Performance in a Comedy), Magpie Murders for BBC and PBS, similarly set to return for a second series titled Moonflower Murders. Lesley can currently be seen in Citadel for Prime Video alongside Richard Madden and Stanley Tucci. Upcoming roles include Alfonso Cuaron’s thriller series, Disclaimer. Lesley’s further TV credits include I Am Maria for BBC, River (BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress), Save Me Too, Talking Heads, World On Fire and Harlots.
Her roles in film include Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread (Academy Award nomination for Best Performance by An Actress in a Supporting Role, BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress, Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress), the titular role as Mrs Harris in Mrs Harris Goes To Paris for Focus Features (which earnt Lesley a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress) Let Him Go, Ordinary Love, Misbehaviour. In addition, Lesley is also known for her collaboration with Mike Leigh in projects such as, Another Year (NBR Best Actress Award, Critics’ Circle Best Actress Award and BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress), and All Or Nothing (Critics’ Circle Best Actress Award), Topsy-Turvy, High Hopes and Grown Ups, to name a few. Upcoming projects include Sam Taylor-Johnson’s upcoming Amy Winehouse biopic, Back To Black, Kasia Adamik’s upcoming Cold War feature, Winter Of The Crow, Cold Storage starring opposite Liam Neeson- a thriller about a spiralling virus and Luca Guadagnino’s feature film, Queer opposite Daniel Craig.
On stage, Lesley’s theatre credits include Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress), Ghosts (Olivier Award for Best Actress and Critics Circle Best Actress Award), Grief (Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress), Top Girls and The Visit. Further credits include Six Degrees Of Separation and All About My Mother at the Old Vic Theatre and Some Girls and The Cherry Orchard in the West End.
For her contributions to Drama and Charity, Lesley was honoured with a CBE in 2021.
Robert Icke is an award-winning writer and director, working in theatre and on screen.
His recent productions include Judas, Children of Nora, and Oedipus at Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, where until 2023 he was Ibsen Artist in Residence. His adaptation of Animal Farm played an extensive national tour in 2022 and is slated for a London transfer. His monologue condensation of Enemy of the People starred Ann Dowd at Park Avenue Armory and was one of the first new pieces of theatre to play in New York post the shutdown. He is directing Ian McKellen in Player Kings at the Noël Coward Theatre, 1 April – 22 June 2024, previewing in Wimbledon and Manchester from March.
In six years at the Almeida, five of his productions transferred to the West End, and four to New York. These included his adaptations of The Wild Duck, Mary Stuart (also West End and National tour), Uncle Vanya, Oresteia (also West End; Schauspiel Stuttgart; Park Avenue Armory), and 1984 (co-created with Duncan Macmillan, also Broadway; West End; national and international tours). As a director, his productions included Hamlet (also West End; Park Avenue Armory; and broadcast on BBC2); The Fever and Mr Burns. His final production at the Almeida was The Doctor, which played last summer at Park Avenue Armory, in the West End in 2022, and remains in repertoire at both the Burgtheater in Vienna and Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, as well as in numerous new productions across the globe.
His awards include two Evening Standard ‘Best Director’ Awards; the Critics’ Circle Award, the Kurt Hübner Award (for his debut production in Germany); and the Olivier Award for ‘Best Director’, of which he was the youngest ever winner. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Hildegard Bechtler (Set Design)
Hildegard Bechtler is an award-winning designer based in London and working internationally. Work in theatre includes designs for the Almeida Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Old Vic, Donmar, on Broadway and extensively in the West End including Top Hat, Oresteia (both Olivier-nominated for best set design), Mary Stuart, Hamlet, Consent, Arcadia and The Crucible. Credits for the National Theatre include Antony and Cleopatra, Hansard, After the Dance (Olivier Award) and Iphigenia at Aulis (Evening Standard Award nomination). Credits for the Royal Court include The Seagull, Krapp’s Last Tape, My Name Is Rachel Corrie. Recent work includes The Doctor, Hamlet/Oresteia and Enemy of the People at the Park Avenue Armory; Four Quartets in the West End; Judas, Nora and Oedipus for Internationaal Theatre Amsterdam, The Doctor in the West End, at the Burgtheater Vienna and at the Adelaide Festival and Iwanow at the Staatstheater Stuttgart. Her many designs in opera and ballet include productions for English National Opera, La Scala Milan, Glyndebourne and the world premieres of The Cellist for the Royal Ballet and Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel at the Salzburger Festspiele, the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House. She won the Australian Green Room Award for Best Opera Design for Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Sydney Opera House. Upcoming work includes a world premiere for Zurich Ballet; and Dr Strangelove in the West End.
Wojciech Dziedzic (Costume Design)
Wojciech Dziedzic designs costumes for opera, theatre and musical and leads, in parallel, a career of a stylist. He studied fashion design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, institutions in which he later taught. Between 2010 and 2019, he directed the fashion department of the Poznań School of Design in Poland.
Recent credits include Simon Boccanegra (New National Theatre in Tokyo); Die Blume von Hawaii (Theater Magdeburg); Shirine (Opéra de Lyon); Acis and Galatea (Concertgebouw Amsterdam); Keine Stille außer der des Windes (Nationaltheater Mannheim); Cardillac (Polish National Opera); Anatomy of a Suicide (Berliner Ensemble); Apocalypse Arabe (Aix en Provence); Ivanov (Schauspiel Stuttgart); Les Indes Galantes (Opéra national de Paris); Aus Licht (Dutch National Opera); Tristan and Isolde, Penthesilea (La Monnaie Brussels); The Crucible (Theatre Basel, Dir. Robert Icke); Eugene Onegin, Il Serpente di Bronzo and A Wintery Spring (Oper Frankfurt); Invasion-Explosion (Holland Festival); Shirine, GerMANIA, Macbeth (Opéra de Lyon); The Glass Menagerie (Toneelgroep Amsterdam and Broadway); Nora, A Sort of Hades, Blindeness, Phaedra, Crave, Caligula (Theater Utrecht); Fidelio (Erl Festival); Boris Godunov, the Conquest of Mexico, Bomarzo, Lohengrin, El Público, Brokeback Mountain (Teatro Real Madrid); Oedipus, From The Life of The Marionettes, The Maids, Mary Stuart, Danton’s Death, Nora, Angels in America, And never we’ll be parted, The Miser, All my Sons (Internationaal Theater Amsterdam); The Crucible (Broadway, Dir. Ivo van Hove); Cries and Whispers (BAM); Mazeppa (Komische Oper Berlin).
Natasha Chivers (Lighting Design)
Natasha’s awards and nominations includes: Winner of the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play, and nominated for an Olivier and Tony Award for Best Lighting Design in a Play for Prima Facie.She won the Olivier Award for best lighting for Sunday in the Park with George. She was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for 1984 and for an Olivier Award for Oresteia
Her extensive work in theatre includes: The Hills of California (West End); Prima Facie (Harold Pinter Theatre/ Broadway); SYLVIA, The American Clock (Old Vic); Peaky Blinders (Rambert); Doctor, Hamlet, Oresteia (Almeida/ West End/ Park Avenue Armory); Enemy of People (Park Avenue Armory, New York); Judas (Internationaal Theater, Amsterdam) Mates in Chelsea, Shoe Lady, White Pearl, The Cane, Bad Roads, Mistress Contract, Fireworks (Royal Court); Ivanov (Staatstheater, Stuttgart); ; Kan Ya Ma Kan (Riyadh); Message in a Bottle, Electric Hotel, Gravity Fatigue (Sadler’s Wells); Drive and Live: La Bohème (ENO); The 1984 (Playhouse Theatre/ Broadway); The Antipodes, Sunset at the Villa Thalia, Statement of Regret (National Theatre); The Deep Blue Sea, The Chalk Garden,The House They Grew Up In (Chichester Festival Theatre); We Are Here (La Mama, New York); Allelujah! (Bridge Theatre); The Duchess of Malfi (RSC); Belleville (Donmar); Electric Counterpoint, Strapless (Royal Ballet); Green Snake (National Theatre of China); Macbeth (Broadway); Sunday in the Park with George (Wyndham’s)
Tom Gibbons (Sound Design)
Recent work includes Dear England (National Theatre, West End); Dead Man Walking (The Metropolitan Opera); Here We Are (The Shed, New York); Jesus Christ Superstar (DeLaMar Theatre, Amsterdam);Best of Enemies (Noël Coward Theatre, Young Vic); Grey House (Lyceum Theatre, Broadway); Good (West End); Hamlet, Oresteia, The Doctor (Park Avenue Armory, Almeida Theatre, West End); Animal Farm (UK tour); West Side Story, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Broadway); Cabaret (Göteborg Opera); Judas, Oedipus, The Doctor (International Theatre Amsterdam); The Antipodes, Home, I’m Darling, People, Places and Things (Winner for Best Sound Design, Olivier Awards 2016), Hedda Gabler, Sunset At The Villa Thalia, The Red Barn (National Theatre/West End); All About Eve (West End); Our Town (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); The Doctor, Wild Duck (Almeida/West End); Madness of King George III (Nottingham Playhouse); Hexenjagd (Theater Basel); Mr Burns, 1984 (Almeida/West End/Broadway); Fanny and Alexander, The Lorax (Old Vic); A View From the Bridge (Young Vic/West End/Broadway); Obsession (International Theatre Amsterdam, Barbican); Life of Galileo, Happy Days, A Season in the Congo, Disco Pigs (Young Vic); Les Miserables (Wermland Opera, Sweden); The Crucible (Walter Kerr Theatre, Broadway); Anna Karenina (Manchester Royal Exchange); The Moderate Soprano, Elephants (Hampstead Theatre); White Devil, As You Like It (RSC); Translations, Plenty (Sheffield Crucible); After Life, The Absence of War, Romeo & Juliet (Headlong); Lion Boy (Complicite); Venus in Fur (Theatre Royal Haymarket); Henry IV, Julius Caesar (Donmar, St Ann’s Brooklyn); The End of History, Pah La, The Woods, Love Love Love, (Royal Court).
Tal Yarden (Video Design)
London credits: Get Up, Stand Up, Anna X, My Brilliant Friend, Hamlet, Antigone, The Damned, Kings of War, The Fountainhead, Roman Tragedies, Lazarus. Broadway credits: Indecent, Network, The Waverly Gallery, Sunday in the Park with George, The Crucible; Off-Broadway & Regional credits: Becky Nurse of Salem, Grey Rock, King Lear, Distracted, Liberty City, The Misanthrope; A Walk on the Moon, Ocean Filibuster, Passing Strange, Frost/Nixon; Opera credits: Exterminating Angel, Between Worlds, Mahagonny, Salome, Brokeback Mountain, Macbeth. Video: Pat McGrath, Rick Owens, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, James Brown, Patti Smith; Awards: Molière, Lucille Lortel, Noinations: Tony, Drama Desk, Hewes, Outer Critic.
Helen Anker’s enthralling play looks beyond the iconic imagery of that black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and explores the real person beneath the gamine perfection.
Set in Audrey’s Swiss home – a backdrop of a cosy book filled room with an armchair, mannequins displaying gowns from her films, stacked vintage suitcases and a guitar – artefacts from her film career are being auctioned off to raise funds for UNICEF. The guest speaker hasn’t arrived, so Audrey begins talking about her life and career while we wait for his arrival.
Helen Anker’s physical resemblance to Hepburn (they both trained as ballet dancers) and her wonderful grasp of Hepburn’s vocal rhythms and tone add a little magic to her heartfelt performance. Anker’s Audrey swigs wine when she gets nervous, dances gleefully across the room as she shows off her gowns, and fumbles over words when she touches upon memories that are hard to bear. Director Michael Vivian ensures Anker’s physicality is used effectively as she moves around the small stage, dancing, singing and sipping her wine.
With such an interesting and full life, it is hard to stop a 65-minute monologue from becoming a checklist of facts, but Anker’s writing and performance creates the atmosphere of someone gradually relaxing into a public searching through and sharing of their memories and the emotions they evoke. Hepburn’s childhood and survival during WW2 in Holland had an enormous impact on her physical and emotional health, and Anker acknowledges this throughout, as well as her determination to prevent other children suffering leading her to work with UNICEF. Hepburn’s career sems to have been a string of good luck and coincidences landing her amazing roles which she then threw herself into and did her best to cope with any stress involved. Hepburn’s marriages and struggles to have children – with one shocking anecdote about 1960’s Hollywood’s disregard for the safety of actors – are considered candidly, there is juicy gossip about famous actors and directors, and sheer joy talking about her friendship with Givenchy. The essence of Audrey, the troubled but determined woman behind the public façade, is revealed in a natural and affectionate manner that had the audience rapt.
A fascinating and heartwarming exploration of an icon that is unmissable. Helen Anker has created that S’wonderful.
Details of future tour dates available here: https://gilesshentonproductions.co.uk/the-essence-of-audrey
NATIONAL THEATRE PARTNERS WITH THE NHS INVITING HEALTHCARE WORKERS TO WATCH NYE LIVE ON STAGE AND IN CINEMAS NATIONWIDE FOR FREE
The National Theatre has invited 400 NHS workers to watch Nye, a play charting the lifeof Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan and his battle to create the NHS, at the Olivier theatre on 23 April.
In addition, 1000 NHS workers from across the UK have been invited to watch this performance in cinemas through National Theatre Live, in collaboration with Vue cinemas.
Nye is the 100th title to be released through National Theatre Live since its inception in 2009.
The National Theatre has partnered with the NHS to give 400 NHS workers free tickets to watch a live performance of Nye – Tim Price‘s (Teh Internet is Serious Business) new play directed by Rufus Norris(Small Island), charting the life of Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan and his battle to create the NHS, playing in the Olivier theatre.
To celebrate Nye as the 100th release from National Theatre Live, the National Theatre in collaboration with Vue has also invited 1000 NHS workers nationwide to watch the live broadcast in cinemas on 23 April, extending its commitment to share impactful stories that inspire and unite people.
The National Theatre has worked with the NHS to ensure tickets are allocated across the NHS including doctors, nurses, and student doctors for both the South Bank performance and Vue cinema tickets.
Michael Sheen plays Nye Bevan in a surreal and spectacular journey through the life and legacy of the man who transformed Britain’s welfare state and created the NHS, in this co-production with Wales Millennium Centre. Confronted with death, Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan’s deepest memories lead him on a mind-bending journey back through his life; from childhood to mining underground, Parliament and fights with Churchill.
Rufus Norris, Director of Nye and Director of the National Theatre, said, “I am honoured to extend a heartfelt invitation to NHS workers to share in this powerful story. This moment epitomises the National Theatre’s commitment to extending the reach of theatre to audiences wherever they are, both at the South Bank and through National Theatre Live. In collaboration with the NHS, we celebrate not only a historic moment, but also the ongoing journey to make theatre an accessible experience for everyone.”
Amanda Pritchard Chief Executive of NHS England, said, “Since Nye Bevan launched the NHS in 1948, it has never stood still – our history is one of innovation and adaption to meet the changing needs of the public, but the principles and the unwavering dedication always remain the same. And that is why it is such an honour that we will be joined by a range of NHS staff – past and present – to watch Nye at the National Theatre while giving hundreds of others the opportunity to see it across the country.”
Toby Bradon, General Manager for Vue UK and Ireland, said, “We are passionate about making quality event cinema such as live theatre accessible throughout the country on the Big Screen, and we are delighted that our partnership with National Theatre goes from strength to strength as they make their 100th production available. In particular, we are happy to welcome NHS workers to our screens across the country so they can be a part of this premiere that celebrates the origins of such a vital institution.”
