Rehearsal Photos: Hay Fever rehearsals featuring Lindsay Duncan and Jeremy Northam

Rehearsal photos of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever at the Noel Coward Theatre, starring Lindsay Duncan and Jeremy Northam.

Howard Davies’ new production of Noel Coward’s classic comedy Hay Fever will (aptly) start previews at the Noel Coward Theatre from 10 February 2012.

A glittering cast includes Lindsay Duncan as Judith Bliss and Kevin R McNally as her husband David, Jeremy Northam as Richard, Olivia Colman as Myra Arundel, Sam Callis as Sandy, Freddie Fox as Simon, Jenny Galloway as Clara, Amy Morgan as Jackie and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Sorel.

Coward’s sparkling 1924 comedy of bad manners sees double-Olivier winner Lindsay Duncan return to the Master’s work following her acclaimed 2001 performance alongside  Alan Rickman in Private Lives.

LINKS

Book tickets to Hay Fever at the Noel Coward Theatre in London

 

Noel Coward’s Hay Fever at the Noel Coward Theatre Starring Lindsay Duncan and Jeremy Northam

Howard Davies directs Lindsay Duncan and Jeremy Northam in Noel Coward’s classic comedy Hay Fever, aptly playing at the Noel Coward Theatre in the West End.

NATIONAL THEATRE September 2011 – January 2012

• Dominic Cooke directs Shakespeare’s THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, with Lenny Henry making his NT debut in the Olivier Theatre
• Sinéad Cusack and Ciarán Hinds lead the cast of JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK by Sean O’Casey, directed by Howard Davies, in the Lyttelton
• Nicholas Hytner directs Alex Jennings and Simon Russell Beale in COLLABORATORS, a new play by John Hodge in the Cottesloe
• Visitors to the National include 1927’s THE ANIMALS AND CHILDREN TOOK TO THE STREETS; Daniel Kitson; and Mark Thomas
• Bristol Old Vic’s production of SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS comes to the West End
• The third season of NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE includes One Man, Two Guvnors (prior to a UK tour and West End run), The Kitchen, Collaborators and The Comedy of Errors

COLLABORATORS
Cottesloe Theatre
Previews from 25 October, press night 1 November, continuing in repertoire
National Theatre Live broadcast on 1 December 2011

Nicholas Hytner directs COLLABORATORS, a new play by John Hodge, opening in the Cottesloe Theatre on Tuesday 1 November. NT Associates Alex Jennings and Simon Russell Beale lead the cast, alongside Mark Addy, Sarah Annis, Marcus Cunningham, Jacqueline Defferary, Patrick Godfrey, Michael Jenn, Jess Murphy, William Postlethwaite, Pierce Reid, Nick Sampson, Maggie Service and Perri Snowdon. The production will be designed by Bob Crowley, with lighting by Jon Clark, music by George Fenton and sound by Paul Arditti; with thanks to Simon Sebag Montefiore.

Moscow, 1938. A dangerous to place to have a sense of humour; even more so a sense of freedom. Mikhail Bulgakov, living among dissidents, stalked by secret police, has both. And then he’s offered a poisoned chalice: a commission to write a play about Stalin to celebrate his sixtieth birthday.
Inspired by historical fact, COLLABORATORS embarks on a surreal journey into the fevered imagination of the writer as he loses himself in a macabre and disturbingly funny relationship with the omnipotent subject of his drama.

John Hodge’s blistering new play depicts a lethal game of cat and mouse through which the appalling compromises and humiliations inflicted on any artist by those with power are held up to scrutiny. Alex Jennings plays Bulgakov and Simon Russell Beale, Stalin.

John Hodge’s screenplays include Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary, The Beach, The Final Curtain and The Dark is Rising.

Alex Jennings’s many appearances at the National include The Habit of Art, Present Laughter, The Alchemist, Stuff Happens, His Girl Friday, The Relapse and The Winter’s Tale (for which two roles he won the 2001 Evening Standard Award for Best Actor), Albert Speer, and My Fair Lady at Drury Lane (Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical).

Simon Russell Beale’s extensive theatre work includes London Assurance, Major Barbara, Much Ado About Nothing, The Alchemist, The Life of Galileo, Hamlet (Evening Standard & Critics’ Circle Awards) and Humble Boy for the National; The Winter’s Tale and The Cherry Orchard (New York and Old Vic); and Bluebird (New York).

Since he became Director of the National in April 2003, Nicholas Hytner has directed Henry V, His Dark Materials, The History Boys, Stuff Happens, Henry IV, Southwark Fair, The Alchemist, The Man of Mode, The Rose Tattoo (with Stephen Pimlott), Rafta, Rafta… , Much Ado About Nothing, Major Barbara, England People Very Nice, Phèdre, The Habit of Art, London Assurance, Hamlet and One Man, Two Guvnors.

COLLABORATORS will be broadcast to cinemas worldwide as part of National Theatre Live on 1 December.

The National Theatre’s Cottesloe Partner is Neptune Investment Management.

JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK
Lyttelton Theatre
A co-production with the Abbey Theatre, Ireland
Previews from 11 November, press night 16 November, continuing in repertoire

Howard Davies directs JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK by Sean O’Casey in a co-production with the Abbey Theatre, Ireland, opening at the National’s Lyttelton Theatre on 16 November. The cast is led by Sinéad Cusack as Juno and Ciarán Hinds as Jack Boyle, with: Cornelius Clarke, Risteárd Cooper, Clare Dunne, Kieran Gough, Luke Hayden, Dermot Kerrigan, Nick Lee, Gillian McCarthy, Bernadette McKenna, Brian Martin, Janet Moran, Kevin Murphy, Ronan Raftery, Sophie Robinson, Eoin Slattery and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor. Bob Crowley will design the set and costumes, with lighting by James Farncombe, music by Anna Rice and sound by Ben Delaney. This is the National Theatre’s first co-production with Ireland’s national theatre, the Abbey, and the production will open the Dublin Theatre Festival in September before coming to the Lyttelton.

One of the great plays of the twentieth century, Sean O’Casey’s JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK offers a devastating portrait of wasted potential in a Dublin torn apart by the chaos of the Irish War of Independence, 1922.

Jack Boyle is out of work and determined to stay that way. He postures and drinks with his sidekick Joxer while the long-suffering Juno balances threats with cajolement to preserve the semblance of family in a squalid tenement flat. Their son Johnny, crippled fighting for the IRA, cowers indoors, terrified of reprisal; his sister Mary has joined the labour movement and is on strike. Sudden news of an inheritance provokes dreams of escape but, even before their rowdy celebrations are done, reality asserts itself as a neighbour’s corpse is carried down the stairs, another victim of the bitter civil war. Mary falls for an educated man as the loans stack up. Tragedy ensues.

Sinéad Cusack’s last appearance at the National Theatre was in Sebastian Barry’s Our Lady of Sligo, for which she won the Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Best Actress Awards. Her extensive theatre work also includes The Cherry Orchard and The Winter’s Tale (New York and Old Vic), Rock ‘n’ Roll (Royal Court), and Three Sisters (Gate Dublin / Royal Court).

Ciarán Hinds’s work in theatre includes, for the National, Burnt by the Sun, Closer (also on Broadway), Machinal, and The Seafarer on Broadway. His recent TV credits include Rome. Film includes: Persuasion, There Will Be Blood, Munich, The Phantom of the Opera, Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life, Calendar Girls and Circle of Friends.

Howard Davies is an Associate Director at the NT, where his recent productions include The Cherry Orchard, The White Guard (Evening Standard Award for Best Director), Burnt by the Sun, Never So Good and Philistines.

JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK is supported by American Express and Culture Ireland.

The production runs at the Abbey Theatre, Ireland from 21 September – 5 November (press night: 29 September) www.abbeytheatre.ie

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
Olivier Theatre
Previews from 22 November, press night 29 November, continuing in repertoire

Dominic Cooke, Artistic Director of the Royal Court, makes his NT debut directing Shakespeare’s THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, opening in the Olivier Theatre on 29 November. Lenny Henry, in his first appearance at the National, plays Antipholus of Syracuse; the cast also includes Claudie Blakley (Adriana), Clare Cathcart, Chris Jarman (Antipholus of Ephesus), Lucian Msamati (Dromio of Syracuse), Joseph Mydell (Aegeon), Pamela Nomvete, Daniel Poyser (Dromio of Ephesus), Amit Shah and Michelle Terry (Luciana). It will be designed by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Paule Constable, music by Gary Yershon, movement by Ann Yee, sound by Christopher Shutt and fight direction by Kate Waters.

Two sets of twins separated at birth collide in the same city without meeting for one crazy day, as multiple mistaken identities lead to confusion on a grand scale. And for no one more so than Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio who, in search of their brothers, arrive in a land entirely foreign to their distant home. A buzzing metropolis, to the outsiders it appears a place of wonderment and terror, where baffling gifts and unexplained hostilities abound.

Consistently recognised by strangers, the visitors question their very selves as the turmoil escalates. Meanwhile, Aegeon, father to the Antipholus twins, has been captured searching for his sons and, as an illegal immigrant, is sentenced to death at sunset.

Shakespeare’s furiously paced comedy will be staged in a contemporary world into which walk three prohibited foreigners who see everything for the first time.

Lenny Henry made his Shakespearean debut in the title role in Othello for Northern Broadsides/West Yorkshire Playhouse, which transferred to the West End and for which he won the 2009 Evening Standard Outstanding Newcomer Award. He has toured worldwide with his stand-up comedy shows, and has appeared in and presented innumerable television dramas, comedies and documentaries, including Three of a Kind, The Lenny Henry Show, Alive and Kicking, Chef!, Hope & Glory and Lenny Henry in Pieces. His many awards include the Lifetime Achievement – Performance Award at the 2003 British Comedy Awards, and a Golden Rose at the Montreux Television Festival.

Dominic Cooke is Artistic Director of the Royal Court, where his productions have included Chicken Soup with Barley, Clybourne Park (also West End), Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Fever, Wig Out!, Now Or Later, Rhinoceros and The Pain and the Itch. He was Associate Director of the RSC from 2002-06, where his work included Arabian Nights, Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, The Crucible (Olivier Awards for Best Director and Best Revival), As You Like It and Cymbeline.

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS will be broadcast to cinemas worldwide as part of National Theatre Live on 1 March 2012.

The production is sponsored by KPMG.

THE ANIMALS AND CHILDREN TOOK TO THE STREETS
Cottesloe Theatre
7 December – 3 January, 15 performances

Seamlessly synchronizing live music, performance and storytelling with stunning film and animation, THE ANIMALS AND CHILDREN TOOK TO THE STREETS is the wickedly twisted second show from multiple award-winning company 1927, visiting the Cottesloe Theatre for 15 performances between 7 December and 3 January.

Trust no-one. Suspect even your own shadow. Welcome to the Bayou, a part of the city feared and loathed, wherein lies the infamous Bayou Mansions: a stinking sprawling tenement block, where curtain-twitchers and peeping-toms live side by side, and the wolf… is always at the door. When Agnes Eaves and her daughter arrive late one night, does it signal hope in this hopeless place, or has the real horror only just begun?

1927 invite you on a theatrical journey of startling originality, like a giant graphic novel burst into life.

The Animals and Children Took to the Streets is created by 1927 and directed and written by Suzanne Andrade, with film, animation and design by Paul Barritt. It is produced by Joanna Crowley, with music by Lillian Henley and costume by Sarah Munro and Esme Appleton. It was co-commissioned by BAC, Malthouse Theatre Melbourne & The Showroom (University of Chichester).

The National Theatre’s Cottesloe partner is Neptune Management.

IT’S ALWAYS RIGHT NOW, UNTIL IT’S LATER
Lyttelton Theatre
A new show by Daniel Kitson about Everything and Nothing
7 – 21 October, 19 – 22 December (day seats & returns only). All tickets £12.

Extra December dates have been added for Daniel Kitson’s show about every single one of us, the past in our pockets, the future in our hearts and us, ourselves, very much stuck, trapped forever, in the tiny eternal moment between the two. Written and performed by Daniel Kitson, designed by Susannah Henry and Daniel Kitson; the technical director is Jon Meggat.

MARK THOMAS: EXTREME RAMBLING
Lyttelton Theatre
Friday 23 December, 7.30pm, followed by a booksigning. All tickets £12.

During 2010, Mark Thomas decided to go rambling in the Middle East and walked the entire length of the Israeli Separation Barrier, crossing between the Israeli and the Palestinian side. Extreme Rambling is the story of 300,000 settlers, a 750km wall, six arrests, one stoning, too much hummus and one simple question… can you ever get away from it all with a good walk?

SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS
Vaudeville Theatre, West End
15 December 2011 – 14 January 2012, suitable for 6 years+

The critically acclaimed Bristol Old Vic production of SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS, a new musical play with book by Helen Edmundson and songs by Neil Hannon, comes to the West End’s Vaudeville Theatre this Christmas for a strictly limited 5-week run from 15 December – 14 January (press night: 19 December), presented by the National Theatre and The Children’s Touring Partnership.

Based on the much-loved book by Arthur Ransome, this delightful and imaginative production is directed by Tom Morris, Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic and co-director of the National Theatre’s Tony Award-winning smash hit War Horse. SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS has music and lyrics by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy and is written by Helen Edmundson, who adapted the National’s Coram Boy.

All aboard The Swallow! Follow Captain John and his able crew as they set sail to Wildcat Island on an exotic adventure to encounter savages, capture dastardly pirates and defeat mortal enemies.

An action-packed musical adventure for the whole family (ages 6+), SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS is a story of an idyllic era, of endless summer evenings and the beauty of youthful imagination.

SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS opened at Bristol Old Vic in December 2010 for a sell-out run and was a critical and popular hit; it was originally developed at the National Theatre Studio. Following its run at the Vaudeville Theatre, the production will embark on a UK tour (for more information please visit www.swallowsamazons.co.uk).

The director of movement is Toby Sedgwick, who won an Olivier Award for War Horse; with set design by Robert Innes Hopkins, costume design by Robert Innes Hopkins & Liesel Corp, musical direction and arrangements by Sam Kenyon, lighting design by James Farncombe, sound by Jason Barnes and additional musical arrangements by Andrew Skeet.

Published in 1930, Swallows and Amazons was the first in a series of twelve books by Arthur Ransome (1884-1967). Set in 1929 in the Lake District, it tells of the school holiday exploits of the Walker and Blackett children and their sailing dinghies – the Swallow and the Amazon.

Helen Edmundson’s many adaptations include Coram Boy, which played two sell-out seasons at the National Theatre, and Anna Karenina, Mill on the Floss, War and Peace and Gone to Earth for Shared Experience. Other work includes The Clearing (Bush Theatre), Mother Teresa is Dead (Royal Court), and a version of Calderon’s Life is a Dream (Donmar). Her new play, The Heresy of Love, opens for the RSC at the Swan in February 2012.

Neil Hannon is a singer, lyricist and composer. Although he is best known for writing, recording and performing as The Divine Comedy, he has also written extensively for TV and film, including the music to Father Ted and The IT Crowd. He has collaborated with everyone from Michael Nyman to Tom Jones, and his cricket-themed project The Duckworth Lewis Method was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award. Swallows and Amazons is his first venture into the world of musical theatre.

Tom Morris was appointed Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic in September 2009. As Associate Director of the National Theatre (2004 – 2009), he developed and co-directed (with Marianne Elliott) War Horse which is currently running in the West End and on Broadway, where it received 6 Tony Awards; and co-directed Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. Previously he was Artistic Director at Battersea Arts Centre from 1995 to 2004. He sits on the board of Complicite and is Chair of the JMK Trust.

Established in 2010 and led by independent producer Fiery Angel and Chichester Festival Theatre, the Children’s Touring Partnership receives generous support from Arts Council England. Their inaugural production, Goodnight Mister Tom, premiered at Chichester in January 2011 and subsequently toured the UK for fourteen weeks. The Children’s Touring Partnership will be presenting the tour of Bristol Old Vic’s stage adaptation of Swallows and Amazons throughout spring 2012.

NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE

ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS opens a new season of NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE, sponsored by Aviva, when it is broadcast live to over 100 UK cinemas and 300 more abroad on 15 September (varying dates internationally). Since National Theatre Live’s first season, which began in June 2009 with Phèdre starring Helen Mirren, over half a million people have now experienced the National’s work on movie screens around the world.

One Man, Two Guvnors will be followed by THE KITCHEN by Arnold Wesker on 6 October and John Hodge’s COLLABORATORS on 1 December; future screenings will include THE COMEDY OF ERRORS on 1 March 2012 with additional titles to be announced. For further information and booking details for all cinemas, please visit www.ntlive.com

ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS
UK tour and West End

Following its run at the National, Nicholas Hytner’s hit production of ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS will tour the UK, visiting: Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury (27 September – 1 October); Theatre Royal, Plymouth (4 – 8 October); The Lowry, Salford (11 – 15 October); New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham (18 – 22 October); and King’s Theatre, Edinburgh (25 – 29 October). Richard Bean’s adaptation, with songs by Grant Olding, then transfers to the West End’s Adelphi Theatre from 8 November 2011 – 25 February 2012. James Corden continues in his original role of Francis Henshall, along with his two ‘guvnors’ Oliver Chris and Jemima Rooper, and the rest of the original cast.

MIKE LEIGH’S new play visits Bath and Cambridge
Mike Leigh’s new play will visit Theatre Royal, Bath (25 – 29 October) and Cambridge Arts Theatre (1 – 5 November), during its Cottesloe run.

PRODUCTION AND CASTING UPDATES

A new play by Mike Leigh
The full cast for Mike Leigh’s new play, opening in the Cottesloe on 21 September, is: Marion Bailey, Ruby Bentall, Dorothy Duffy, David Horovitch, Sam Kelly, Lesley Manville and Wendy Nottingham.

THE VEIL
Conor McPherson directs his own new play The Veil, opening in the Lyttelton on 4 October. The full cast is: Bríd Brennan, Caoilfhionn Dunne, Abigail Guiver, Claudia Hall, Ursula Jones, Peter McDonald, Felicity McHardy-Costaine Brown, Mary Mallen, Ursula Mohan, Alan Mooney, Jim Norton, Alice Parsloe, Adrian Schiller, Emily Taaffe, Geoffrey Towers and Fenella Woolgar.

13
The cast for Mike Bartlett’s new play 13, opening in the Olivier on 25 October as part of the Travelex £12 Tickets season, directed by Thea Sharrock, is: Matthew Barker, Nick Blakeley, Katie Brayben, Natasha Broomfield, Kirsty Bushell, Martin Chamberlain, Grace Cooper Milton, Davood Ghadami, Trystan Gravelle, Jadie-Rose Hobson, Adam James, Geraldine James, Sioned Jones, Barbara Kirby, Esther McAuley, Genevieve O’Reilly, Lara Rossi, Helen Ryan, Nick Sidi, Zara Tempest-Walters, Danny Webb, John Webber and Shane Zaza.

KING JAMES BIBLE
Nikki Amuka-Bird, David Calder, Nancy Carroll, Lindsay Duncan, Alan Howard, Alex Jennings, Paterson Joseph, Maureen Lipman, Paul Ready, Patricia Routledge, Simon Russell Beale and John Shrapnel will be among the ensemble of leading NT actors reading extracts (edited by Edward Kemp) from the KING JAMES BIBLE as part of its 400th anniversary celebrations. The twelve extracts will be directed by Nicholas Hytner, James Dacre and Polly Findlay in the Lyttelton Theatre from 8 October – 6 November.

Dates and times of the readings vary and can be found in the rep leaflet or NT website, alongside casting details.

Release issued by: National Theatre

LINKS

National Theatre website

The Cherry Orchard at the Olivier Theatre starring Zoe Wanamaker – Review

A review of The Cherry Orchard at the Olivier Theatre (National Theatre) starring Zoe Wanamaker and Conleth Hill

It was the great theatre critic, Kenneth Tynan, who when asked which of Anton Chekhov’s quartet of masterpieces he liked best, answered, ‘the last one I saw.’ I know exactly what he meant. The last one I saw, just days ago, was The Cherry Orchard which time cannot wither nor custom style its infinite variety – even in a new version by Australian Andrew Upton better suited to the Ozzie outback than the Russian countryside.

Though ‘nudged’ (according to a programme note) from the play’s 1904 setting to 1905, the year in which the Bloody Sunday massacre outside the Winter Palace would began to sow the seeds of the 1917 Revolution, Upton anachronistically coarsens his adaptation to nearer our own time with expressions such as ‘you whiffy crap artist’, ‘bloody hell’, ‘listen up’, ‘oh bollocks!’ and ‘I’ve told you a thousand frigging bloody, frigging times’ – uttered in exasperation by the peasant-turnedcapitalistic landowner Lopahin as he vents his frustration on the cherry orchard’s near bankrupt owner, Madame Ranevskaya, who stubbornly refuses to take his advice and sell the estate to pay off her gargantuan debts.

The result of this coarsening of the text while adding a discombobulating comic tone to the proceedings – which, it could be argued, is in keeping with Chekhov’s insistence that his play is a comedy – nevertheless undermines the heart-breaking, elegaic quality that is so essential to any great Chekhov production.

The scene towards the very end of the play, in which Ranevskaya’s adopted daughter Varya hopes Lopahan will propose to her, should break your heart, but it doesn’t; nor does the play’s final moments, when the old retainer Firs is inadvertently left to die alone in the abandoned house as Ranevskaya and her family finally leave the estate for the last time.

Yet, while director Howard Davies and Upton seem deliberately to have desentimentalised this great text, the production nevertheless thrives on a cluster of beautifully observed performances. Zoe Wanamaker is absolutely splendid as the feckless Ranevskaya, who, though the architect of her own financial downfall, and still harbouring guilt for her drowned, ten year-old son, is a loving mother to her daughters Anya and Varya, and a caring sister to her useless but endearing brother Gaev (James Laurenson excellent).

Conleth Hill is superb as the caring, but frustrated landowner whose love and concern for Ranevskaya and her doomed brood is wonderfully conveyed in his contradictory mood swings.

There’s fine work, too, from Charity Wakefied and Claudie Blakley as Anya and Varya, from Mark Bonnar as the eternal student Trofimov, and Kenneth Cranham as the ageing butler Firs. I couldn’t quite work out the architecture of Bunny Christie’s crumbling wooden set – whose windows remained frosted in the height of summer. Nor did I feel it imparted any sense of the beauty that made the cherry orchard so speacial to Ranevskaya and her family.

Still, it’s an imperishable play and a good start to the National’s £12 Travelex season.

CLIVE HIRSCHHORN. Courtesy of This Is London magazine.

LINKS

Book tickets to The Cherry Orchard at the National Theatre

ZOE WANAMAKER in The Cherry Orchard

Acclaimed actress Zoe Wanamaker stars in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard

Following her acclaimed performance in All My Sons at the Apollo Theatre, the director of that play, Howard Davies, has cast Zoe Wanamaker again in his latest production, The Cherry Orchard at the National Theatre.

Howard Davies, who won a 2011 Olivier Award for his direction of The White Guard at the National, will direct Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece in a version by Andrew Upton.

Zoe Wanamaker’s extensive theatre credits include Much Ado About Nothing, The Rose Tattoo, His Girl Friday, Battle Royal, The Crucible, Mrs Klein and The Importance of Being Earnest at the National Theatre. Other award nominated and winning theatre work includes Loot in New York, The Last Yankee at the Young Vic, Dead Funny in Hampstead and the West End, The Glass Menagerie at the Donmar and Comedy Theatre, Electra at Chichester, the Donmar and on Broadway, Boston Marriage, and Awake & Sing!

Her film and TV work includes Harry Potter, BBC sitcom My Family, Wilde and Prime Suspect.

Book tickets to The Cherry Orchard at the National Theatre

The Cherry Orchard tickets at the National Theatre starring Zoe Wanamaker

Zoe Wanamaker and Kenneth Cranham star in Olivier Award winner Howard Davies’ new production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard at the National Theatre.

Olivier Awards: National, Legally Blonde

In a star-studded awards ceremony last night, Sunday 13 March, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London, the Society of London Theatre held their 35th annual theatre awards ceremony.

Hosted by musicals star Michael Ball and actress Imelda Staunton, the awards celebrate the best of the year’s London theatre.

Big winners last night included the National Theatre, which swept up seven awards for two of its productions: Thea Sharrock’s revival of Terence Rattigan’s After the Dance, which won awards including best revival, best actress for Nancy Carroll and best actor in a supporting role for Adrian Scarborough; and its production of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The White Guard, including best director for Howard Davies and best set design for Bunny Christie.

In other subsidised venues the Royal Court picked up three awards, including best new play for Bruce Norris’s comedy Clybourne Park, which is now playing at the Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End, and two awards for the Donmar Warehouse, including David Thaxton picking up best actor in a musical for Passion.

Roger Allam won best actor for his performance as Falstaff in Shakespeare’s Globe’s production of Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, beating stiff competition from Rory Kinnear, Derek Jacobi, David Suchet and Mark Rylance.

The most successful musical of the night was Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre, which picked up three major awards: best new musical, best actress in a musical for Sheridan Smith and best performance in a supporting role in a Musical for Jill Halfpenny.

Other musicals rewarded at the event included We Will Rock You, which won the Olivier Audience Award voted for by members of the theatregoing public, and the Open Air Theatre’s summer production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.

Stephen Sondheim was presented with an Olivier Special Award for his enormous contribution to theatre, with the award presented by Sir Cameron Mackintosh and legendary actress Angela Lansbury.

Big shows to miss out on awards this year included Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies, which failed to pick up any awards despite seven nominations, and End of the Rainbow at the Trafalgar Studios, which was nominated for four awards including best actress for Tracie Bennett in her performance as Judy Garland.

Notable performances during the ceremony included a star turn by legendary American singer Barry Manilow, who also sang a duet with Wicked and Oliver! star Kerry Ellis; current and former stars of The Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies – Ramin Karimloo, John Owen-Jones and Sierra Boggess; Emma Williams and Michael Xavier singing Everything We Know from Love Story; Alfie Boe, who is soon to star in Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre, singing Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific; Susan McFadden and the current cast of Legally Blonde; and Adrian Lester paying tribute to Stephen Sondheim by singing Being Alive from Company, along with Angela Lansbury singing a moving rendition of Liaisons from A Little Night Music and 400 students from national drama schools singing Our Time from Merrily We Roll Along.

LISTEN & WATCH AGAIN

BBC iPlayer – Radio 2 coverage

BBC iPlayer – BBC News

LINKS

Olivier Awards – list of winners

Olivier Awards microsite

Olivier Awards – news

Olivier Awards – Binkie Blog’s Picks and Pans

Second chance to see Into The Woods

Download service Digital Theatre has released filmed performances of a number of acclaimed West End shows.

The web service is offering theatregoers another chance to see some of the most talked-out and critically acclaimed West End productions of 2010, including Into the Woods, All My Sons and the RSC’s As You Like It.

The Open Air Theatre’s acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods proved a big hit for the Regent’s Park venue last summer and starred The Wizard of Oz’s Hannah Waddingham as the Witch and Love Story’s Michael Xavier as the Wolf/Prince.

Howard Davies’ Apollo Theatre production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, which was recently nominated for Best Revival and Best Actor Olivier Awards, featured an all-star cast including David Suchet, Zoe Wanamaker, Stephen Campbell Moore (Clybourne Park) and Jemima Rooper.

Finally, the RSC’s production of As You Like It, which is Digital Theatre’s second collaboration with the RSC, is also available to download. Michael Boyd’s production starred Jonjo O’Neill and Katy Stephens.

Digital Theatre, which charges £6.99 per download,  films live stage performances using multiple camera angles and high-definition technology, and has forged partnerships with a number of major theatre companies including the Almeida Theatre, the English Touring Theatre, the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Young Vic.

MORE INFO

ALL MY SONS

Directed by Howard Davies and designed by William Dudley, the universally acclaimed All My Sons which enjoyed a sell out season at the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End last year, has lighting by Mark Henderson, music by Dominic Muldowney and sound by Paul Groothius. The Laurence Olivier Award winning All My Sons was produced in the West End by Kim Poster for Stanhope Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions, Eric Falkenstein, Robert G. Bartner and Norman Tulchin, Simon Meadon, Dan Frishwasser. Earlier this month it was announced that All My Sons has received two Laurence Olivier Award nominations – Best Revival and Best Actor for David Suchet.

The cast is led by David Suchet as Joe Keller and Zoe Wanamaker as Kate Keller. They are accompanied by Stephen Campbell Moore as Chris, Olivia Darnley as Lydia Lubey, Steven Elder as Dr Jim Bayliss, Claire Hackett as Sue Bayliss, Daniel Lapaine as George Deever, Jemima Rooper as Ann Deever, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Frank Lubey and Ted Allpress as Bert.

AS YOU LIKE IT

Directed by Royal Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Michael Boyd, As You Like It is designed by Tom Piper, lighting by Wolfgang Göbbel, music by John Woolf, sound by Andrew Franks, movement by Struan Leslie and fights by Terry King.

The cast includes Charles Aitken as Oliver, David Carr as Charles the Wrestler, Dyfan Dwyfor as William, Christine Entwisle as Phoebe, Geoffrey Freshwater as Adam/Corin, Mariah Gale as Celia, James Howard as First Lord, Ansu Kabia as Le Beau, Richard Katz as Touchstone, Debbie Korley as Hisperia, Forbes Masson as Jaques, Sandy Neilson as Duke Frederick, Jonjo O’Neill as Orlando, Dharmesh Patel as Lord Amiens, Peter Peverley as Jacques Du Boys/Dennis, Sophie Russell as Audrey, Clarence Smith as Duke Ferdinand, Katy Stephens as Rosalind, James Traherne as Sir Oliver Martext and James Tucker as Silvius.

INTO THE WOODS

Celebrating Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday, the 2010 season at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre closed with Sondheim and Lapine’s 1987 musical Into the Woods co-directed by Timothy Sheader and Liam Steel. With designs by Soutra Gilmour, movement by co-director Liam Steel, musical supervision and direction Gareth Valentine, lighting by Jon Clark, orchestrations by Chris Walker and sound by Mike Walker, Into the Woods became the highest selling single production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Earlier this month it was announced that Into the Woods has received two Laurence Olivier Award nominations – Best Musical Revival and Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical for Michael Xavier.

The cast (in order of appearance) comprises Eddie Manning as the The Narrator, Helen Dallimore as Cinderella, Ben Stott as Jack, Mark Hadfield as Baker, Jenna Russell as Baker’s Wife, Gaye Brown as Cinderella’s Stepmother, Amy Ellen Richardson as Florinda, Amy Griffiths as Lucinda, Marilyn Cutts as Jack’s Mother, Beverly Rudd as Little Red Ridinghood, Hannah Waddingham as Witch, Gemma Wardle as Cinderella’s Mother, Billy Boyle as Mysterious Man, Michael Xavier as Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince, Valda Aviks as Grandmother, Alice Fearn as Rapunzel, Simon Thomas as Rapunzel’s Prince, Mark Goldthorp as Steward, Sophie Caton as Snow White/Harp, Marc Antolin as Woodsman, with Judi Dench as the voice of the Giant.

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VIDEO: Watch a trailer for As You Like It

Digital Theatre

Digital Theatre: William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Stephen Sondheim And James Lapine’s Into The Woods, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons Now Available To Stream And Download

Digital Theatre today (14 February 2011) announces William Shakespeare’s As You Like It – their second collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company; the critically acclaimed Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into The Woods, and the sell out West End production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons as their next three downloadable productions which will also be available to stream from £6.99 at www.digitaltheatre.com. As You Like It will be available from today followed shortly by Into The Woods and All My Sons.

Digital Theatre’s partner theatres are the Almeida Theatre Company, the Bush Theatre, English Touring Theatre, the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal Exchange Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Young Vic.

AS YOU LIKE IT

Unable to act on their feelings and forced into exile in the Forest of Arden, lovers Rosalind and Orlando become entangled in a beguiling game of love, lust and mistaken identity. One of Shakespeare’s great comedies, As You Like It subverts the traditional rules of romance. Gender roles nature and politics are confused in a play that reflects on how bewildering yet utterly pleasurable life can be.

Directed by Royal Shakespeare Company Artistic Director Michael Boyd, As You Like It is designed by Tom Piper, lighting by Wolfgang Göbbel, music by John Woolf, sound by Andrew Franks, movement by Struan Leslie and fights by Terry King.

Michael Boyd said: “After completing sold out seasons at Stratford-upon-Avon and the Roundhouse, I am delighted that, with Digital Theatre’s input, the life of As You Like It can be extended. It’s great that audiences who were not able to purchase tickets in the UK will now be able to access our production to watch at their leisure.”

The cast comprises Charles Aitken as Oliver, David Carr as Charles the Wrestler, Dyfan Dwyfor as William, Christine Entwisle as Phoebe, Geoffrey Freshwater as Adam/Corin, Mariah Gale as Celia, James Howard as First Lord, Ansu Kabia as Le Beau, Richard Katz as Touchstone, Debbie Korley as Hisperia, Forbes Masson as Jaques, Sandy Neilson as Duke Frederick, Jonjo O’Neill as Orlando, Dharmesh Patel as Lord Amiens, Peter Peverley as Jacques Du Boys/Dennis, Sophie Russell as Audrey, Clarence Smith as Duke Ferdinand, Katy Stephens as Rosalind, James Traherne as Sir Oliver Martext and James Tucker as Silvius.

INTO THE WOODS

Into the Woods takes the stories of the Brothers Grimm and gives them a dark and humorous twist. The popular tales of Red Ridinghood, Jack (of Beanstalk fame), Cinderella and Rapunzel are interwoven with that of the Baker and his Wife and their quest to have a child. However this re-telling goes beyond ‘happily ever after’ as the familiar characters find themselves in unfamiliar circumstances and hopes and dreams are questioned and revisited.
Celebrating Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday, the 2010 season at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre closed with Sondheim and Lapine’s 1987 musical Into the Woods co-directed by Timothy Sheader and Liam Steel. With designs by Soutra Gilmour, movement by co-director Liam Steel, musical supervision and direction Gareth Valentine, lighting by Jon Clark, orchestrations by Chris Walker and sound by Mike Walker, Into the Woods became the highest selling single production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Earlier this month it was announced that Into the Woods has received two Laurence Olivier Award nominations – Best Musical Revival and Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical for Michael Xavier.
The cast (in order of appearance) comprises Eddie Manning as the The Narrator, Helen Dallimore as Cinderella, Ben Stott as Jack, Mark Hadfield as Baker, Jenna Russell as Baker’s Wife, Gaye Brown as Cinderella’s Stepmother, Amy Ellen Richardson as Florinda, Amy Griffiths as Lucinda, Marilyn Cutts as Jack’s Mother, Beverly Rudd as Little Red Ridinghood, Hannah Waddingham as Witch, Gemma Wardle as Cinderella’s Mother, Billy Boyle as Mysterious Man, Michael Xavier as Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince, Valda Aviks as Grandmother, Alice Fearn as Rapunzel, Simon Thomas as Rapunzel’s Prince, Mark Goldthorp as Steward, Sophie Caton as Snow White/Harp, Marc Antolin as Woodsman, with Judi Dench as the voice of the Giant.

ALL MY SONS

All My Sons tells the story of Joe Keller, a successful, middle-aged, self-made man who has done a terrible and tragic thing: during World War II, rushing to meet an order from the Army, he knowingly sold them defective airplane parts which later caused the planes to crash and killed 21 men. He framed his business partner for this crime and engineered his own exoneration; now, his son is about to marry the partner’s daughter, the affair is revisited, and his lie of a life is unravelled.

Directed by Howard Davies and designed by William Dudley, the universally acclaimed All My Sons which enjoyed a sell out season at the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End last year, has lighting by Mark Henderson, music by Dominic Muldowney and sound by Paul Groothius. The Laurence Olivier Award winning All My Sons was produced in the West End by Kim Poster for Stanhope Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions, Eric Falkenstein, Robert G. Bartner and Norman Tulchin, Simon Meadon, Dan Frishwasser. Earlier this month it was announced that All My Sons has received two Laurence Olivier Award nominations – Best Revival and Best Actor for David Suchet.

The cast is led by David Suchet as Joe Keller and Zoe Wanamaker as Kate Keller. They are accompanied by Stephen Campbell Moore as Chris, Olivia Darnley as Lydia Lubey, Steven Elder as Dr Jim Bayliss, Claire Hackett as Sue Bayliss, Daniel Lapaine as George Deever, Jemima Rooper as Ann Deever, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Frank Lubey and Ted Allpress as Bert.

CATALOGUE OF DIGITAL THEATRE PRODUCTIONS:

English Touring Theatre’s Far From The Madding Crowd, an adaptation by Mark Healy from Thomas Hardy, directed by Kate Saxton with a cast including Rebecca O’Mara, Phil Cheadle and Stephen Billington.

The Container, presented in association with The Young Vic and Amnesty International, highlighting the plight of illegal immigrants coming to the UK, written by Clare Bayley, directed by Tom Wright, designed by Naomi Dawson.

Jez Butterworth’s Laurence Oliver Award nominated Parlour Song, directed by Ian Rickson at the Almeida, with a cast comprising Amanda Drew, Andrew Lincoln and Toby Jones.

Kathryn Hunter’s acclaimed one woman show Kafka’s Monkey by Franz Kafka, in an adaptation by Colin Teevan, directed by Walter Meierjohann, which enjoyed a sell-out season at the Young Vic.

Mark Ravenhill’s Over There, part of the Royal Court Theatre’s 2009 Off The Wall season, written by Mark Ravenhill and directed by Ravenhill and Ramin Gray, with a cast of twin brothers Harry Treadaway and Luke Treadaway.

The Royal Shakespeare Company and Told by an Idiot’s The Comedy of Errors, created for schools and family audiences, directed by Paul Hunter. In addition Digital Theatre offer a behind the scenes documentary to download.

Robert Delamere and Tom Shaw launched Digital Theatre in 2009 and to date the site has users from over 120 countries worldwide. With the support of Equity, BECTU and the Musicians Union; Digital Theatre produces theatre productions filmed in front of live audiences for users to stream or download and keep at www.digitaltheatre.com

Digitaltheatre.com has been built with a variety of technologies to provide the user with the best platform for delivery. The entire application is hosted in a secure and scalable environment with servers running the latest Windows and Adobe software. Adobe Rights Management ensures top level digital copyright protection. SSL site encryption provides high-level security guaranteeing the privacy of customer and payment information.

GULF STAGE
In addition to the newest downloads, Digital Theatre is also pleased to announce Gulf Stage, a unique digital project with the British Council in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage (Qatar), and The Cultural Development Centre – a member of the Qatar Foundation. Six original theatre productions from the participating countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council Youth Theatre Festival (GCCYTF, Doha, Qatar 2010) – UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait – were digitally captured alongside a professional development workshop in digital film making, in a pioneering initiative to preserve contemporary Gulf cultural heritage.
The six productions, subtitled into English, along with an accompanying documentary are available to view online for free at digitaltheatre.com/gulfstage
Gulf Stage, Digital Theatre’s first international project, was facilitated by the British Council.

Release issued by: Premier PR

LINKS

Digital Theatre

Nicholas Hytner announces plans for 2011 and beyond at the National Theatre

Highlights of the forthcoming productions at the National Theatre, announced today by Nicholas Hytner, include Howard Davies’s production of The Cherry Orchard; Jonathan Kent’s staging of Ibsen’s Emperor and Galilean; Katie Mitchell’s production of A Woman Killed with Kindness; Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork’s London Road; Dominic Cooke’s NT debut with The Comedy of Errors; and Nicholas Hytner’s production of Richard Bean’s One Man,Two Guvnors. There will be a new musical by Tori Amos and Sam Adamson; new plays by John Hodge, Mike Leigh and Conor McPherson; revivals of classic 20th-century plays by Odets, Wesker and O’Casey; and Jonathan Miller’s staging of Bach’s St Matthew Passion.

Olivier Theatre

Tickets for the ninth Travelex season at the National Theatre will continue to offer exciting and ambitious work at the equivalent of cinema prices, with almost half the tickets for every performance at £12 and the rest at £20 and £30. The season opens on 17 May with Howard Davies’s production of THE CHERRY ORCHARD by Anton Chekhov, in a version by Andrew Upton; Zoë Wanamaker as Madame Ranevskaya and Conleth Hill as Lopakhin head the cast, which also includes Claudie Blakley, Mark Bonnar, Pip Carter, Gerald Kyd, James Laurenson, Tim McMullan, Emily Taaffe, Charity Wakefield and Sarah Woodward.

Ibsen’s EMPEROR AND GALILEAN, in a new version by Ben Power, will be directed by Jonathan Kent, opening on 15 June; Andrew Scott plays Julian and the cast also includes James McArdle, Jamie Ballard, John Heffernan, Ian McDiarmid (as Maximus), Genevieve O’Reilly and Prasanna Puwanarajah.

The Travelex £12 Season will continue in September with a production yet to be confirmed, directed by Thea Sharrock; and will conclude in October with a new production of Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play THE KITCHEN, directed by Bijan Sheibani.

Jonathan Miller’s staging of Bach’s ST MATTHEW PASSION, in collaboration with Southbank Sinfonia, will have nine performances in September as part of the four hundredth anniversary celebrations for the King James Bible. The National will also present readings from the Old and New Testaments, abridged by Edward Kemp, by a company of leading actors from the NT’s last 25 years; Nicholas Hytner will be the supervisory director and the readings will take place in the Olivier and Lyttelton Theatres.

Dominic Cooke, Artistic Director of The Royal Court, will make his National Theatre debut with Shakespeare’s THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, opening in the Olivier in November.

As already announced, earlier in the year Danny Boyle directs FRANKENSTEIN, a new play by Nick Dear, based on the novel by Mary Shelley. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternate the roles of Victor Frankenstein and The Creature; the cast also includes Karl Johnson and Naomie Harris. The production, sponsored by Coutts & Co, has press nights on 22 and 23 February.

Lyttelton Theatre

The 2011 Lyttelton season opens on 1 February, as previously announced, with GREENLAND by Moira Buffini, Matt Charman, Penelope Skinner and Jack Thorne. NT associate directors Bijan Sheibani and Ben Power are the director and dramaturg respectively; the production is sponsored by Accenture.

Angus Jackson directs ROCKET TO THE MOON by Clifford Odets, opening on 30 March, with a cast led by Keeley Hawes, Joseph Millson, Jessica Raine and Nicholas Woodeson.

In May, Nicholas Hytner directs ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS by Richard Bean, based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni; James Corden heads the cast. The production will tour the UK in October following its Lyttelton run.

A WOMAN KILLED WITH KINDNESS by Thomas Heywood will be directed by Katie Mitchell, opening in July.

A new play written and directed by Conor McPherson will open in the Lyttelton in October. As yet untitled, the play is set in 19th-century Ireland.

Howard Davies will direct Sean O’Casey’s JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK, with Sinead Cusack as Juno and Ciaran Hinds as Captain Boyle. This will be a co-production with the Abbey Theatre, Ireland, where it premieres in September before opening at the Lyttelton in November.

Cottesloe Theatre

Ryan Craig’s new play, THE HOLY ROSENBERGS, opens on 16 March directed by Laurie Sansom, with a cast led by Henry Goodman and also including Philip Arditti, Stephen Boxer, Paul Freeman, Tilly Tremayne, Alex Waldmann and Susannah Wise.

Rufus Norris will direct LONDON ROAD, with book and lyrics by Alecky Blythe, and music and lyrics by Adam Cork, opening on 14 April; the cast includes Rosalie Craig, Kate Fleetwood, Nick Holder, Claire Moore, Michael Shaeffer and Paul Thornley. (Alecky Blythe’s award-winning play Do We Look Like Refugees?, seen at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010, will visit Riverside Studios in May, in a co-production by the NT Studio/Rustaveli Theatre, Georgia.)

In July, four new one-hour plays commissioned from emerging writers new to the National Theatre will be directed by Polly Findlay and Lyndsey Turner, presented in alternating double-bills.

Mike Leigh returns to the National with a new play, opening in September; the cast will include Ruby Bentall and Lesley Manville.

A new play by John Hodge will be directed by Nicholas Hytner, opening in October. The play centres on an imaginary encounter between Joseph Stalin and the playwright Mikhail Bulgakov; Alex Jennings will play Bulgakov and Simon Russell Beale will play Stalin.

Winter and beyond

Looking further ahead, a production of THE WAY OF THE WORLD by William Congreve will open in the Olivier in January 2012.

A new musical with music and lyrics by Tori Amos and book and additional lyrics by Samuel Adamson, suggested by a story by George MacDonald, will be directed by Marianne Elliott, opening in April 2012 in the Lyttelton Theatre.

Beyond the National: National Theatre Live, on tour, in the West End and on Broadway

Following its sell-out run at the Olivier, Nicholas Hytner’s production of HAMLET will tour from mid-February to Salford, Nottingham, Woking, Milton Keynes, Plymouth and Luxembourg.

Richard Bean’s ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS, with the original cast led by James Corden, will visit Plymouth, Salford, Birmingham and Edinburgh in October.

Mike Leigh’s new play will visit Bath and Cambridge in the autumn, during its Cottesloe run.

The second season of National Theatre Live (now on 360 screens across 20 countries, sponsored by Aviva) continues with the Donmar Warehouse’s production of KING LEAR, with Derek Jacobi directed in the title role by Michael Grandage, filmed at the Donmar’s home in Covent Garden on 3 February; Danny Boyle’s production of FRANKENSTEIN on 17 March; and Howard Davies’s production of THE CHERRY ORCHARD on 30 June. A third season of National Theatre Live will begin in the autumn.

WAR HORSE, based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford, continues its run at the New London Theatre where it is now booking until February 2012. The National’s production opens at Lincoln Center Theater, New York, with the original creative team working with a new American cast, from 15 March 2011.

Watch This Space Festival
The National’s free summer festival of outdoor entertainment will return with the giant grass furniture in Theatre Square in June 2011, featuring theatre, fire, circus, juggling, hula-hooping, dance and street performance.

Release issued by: National Theatre press office

LINKS

National Theatre venue information: Lyttleton Theatre |  Olivier Theatre
National Theatre website

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