Almeida Theatre announces new season for 2024

Writers include Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Kendall Feaver, Annie Ernaux, Arnold Wesker, John Osborne; Directors include Polly Findlay, Eric Ting, Eline Arbo, Diyan Zora, Atri Banerjee; Stars include Lia Williams, Yolanda Kettle, Ferdinand Kingsley, Tamara Lawrance, Katie Leung, Anthony Welsh, Nathalie Armin, Phoebe Campbell, Liv Hill, Liam Lau-Fernandez and Susannah Wise

The Almeida Theatre in London has revealed its new season of plays for 2024.

Highlights include the UK premiere of The Comeuppance (Saturday 6 April – Saturday 18 May) by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Eric Ting and starring Yolanda Kettle, Ferdinand Kingsley, Tamara Lawrance, Katie Leung and Anthony Welsh.

Also, Kendall Feaver presents her new play Alma Mater (Tuesday 11 June – Saturday 20 July), with a cast including Nathalie Armin, Phoebe Campbell, Liv Hill, Liam Lau-Fernandez, Lia Williams and Susannah Wise. The play will be directed by Polly Findlay.

A new stage adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux’s novel The Years (Saturday 27 July – Saturday 31 August) is coming to the Almeida, adapted and directed by Internationaal Theater Amsterdam’s Artistic Director Eline Arbo.

The Almeida’s first repertory season Angry and Young will feature Arnold Wesker’s Roots (Tuesday 10 September – Saturday 30 November), directed by Diyan Zora, and John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger (Wednesday 18 September – Saturday 30 November), directed by Atri Banerjee.

Also, the Almeida Young Company will present Lear is Not Okay (Sunday 10 & Sunday 17 March) and Lessons (Sunday 10 & Sunday 17 March), in response to Yaël Farber’s production of King Lear.

The Almeida also announced that their Artistic Director Rupert Goold will direct The Hunt at St. Ann’s Warehouse New York, playing in February and March 2024; and the already-announced Almeida productions of Patriots, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York from April to June 2024, and Tammy Faye on Broadway this year for the 2024-2025 season.

The Almeida’s acclaimed production of A Mirror starring Jonny Lee Miller is now playing at the Trafalgar Theatre in London, until 20 April 2024.

Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold said in a statement: “Today we announce a new season for 2024, welcoming five new directors to the Almeida. Three extraordinary new plays are followed by two canonical revivals, but all the work is made in celebration of the unique intimacy and atmosphere of the Almeida stage. We start with The Comeuppance. Through his many acclaimed plays, including Appropriate and An Octoroon, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has already displayed an incredible sensitivity and bravura wit in formally inventive, completely contemporary new writing. His new play, The Comeuppance, in my opinion his masterpiece, absolutely continues that lineage. Having been part of our inaugural cohort of Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays Programme, it feels particularly special to be producing Kendall Feaver’s Alma Mater in Polly Findlay’s gripping production. Kendall’s virtuoso play explores the nuances and volcanoes of inter-generational feminism and will be one of the water-cooler events of London theatre in 2024. Last year, I was mesmerised by Eline Arbo’s adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s extraordinary novel The Years in Amsterdam. Eline is one of Europe’s most visionary directors and has succeeded Ivo van Hove as Artistic Director of Internationaal Theater Amsterdam. We’re thrilled that she makes her UK debut at the Almeida this summer. In the autumn, we present one company in two seminal, British plays running in rep (a first for the Almeida) as part of our Angry and Young season, directed by two exciting artists. Former Almeida Resident Director Atri Banerjee returns to helm John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger, and Diyan Zora directs Arnold Wesker’s Roots, following her fantastic work with our Almeida Young Company. Performed by a single company of actors, we examine what these plays that had such a seismic impact in the 1950s, can tell us about Britain in 2024. We also announce two new Almeida Young Company productions, running alongside and in response to Yaël Farber’s new production of King Lear, which opens this week. It’s always exciting to see the dynamic responses of emerging theatre talents as they engage with our material, reflecting the evolving energy and creativity of the next generation. We look forward to welcoming you to the Almeida in 2024.”