The National Theatre pronounces three new productions for 2023 and the revival of the critically acclaimed The Father and the Assassin.
Josie Rourke (Mary Queen of Scots) directs a hanging revival of Dancing at Lughnasa within the Olivier theatre opening in April. Set throughout harvest time in County Donegal, 1936, outdoors the village of Ballybeg, the 5 Mundy sisters battle poverty to boost seven-year-old Michael and care for his or her Uncle Jack. During the Festival of Lughnasa, Pagan and Christian meet and collide. The sisters combat, love, dance, yearn and survive. Brian Friel’s Olivier Award-winning play is an astonishing evocation of a household’s world getting ready to change.
Cast contains Siobhán McSweeney (Derry Girls), Ardal O’Hanlon (Father Ted) and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Translations). Louisa Harland, Bláithín Mac Gabhann, Justine Mitchell and Alison Oliver be part of the corporate.
Set and costume design by Robert Jones, lighting designer is Mark Henderson, choreographer is Wayne McGregor, composer is Hannah Peel, sound designer is Emma Laxton, video designer is Douglas O’Connell and casting director is Alastair Coomer CDG.
Opening within the Dorfman theatre in April is a brand new play by Deborah Bruce, Dixon and Daughters, a co-production with Clean Break, the ground-breaking firm producing theatre with and about girls affected by the prison justice system.
Mary has simply been launched from jail. She needs to return residence and overlook all about it, however Briana has different concepts. Over a tumultuous two days a household is compelled to confront not simply their previous however themselves. Because even for those who refuse to listen to the reality, the reality doesn’t go away.
Róisin McBrinn (Artistic Director, Gate Theatre, Dublin) returns to Clean Break, the place she was previously Joint Artistic Director, to direct this highly effective story of household and forgiveness. The forged contains Alison Fitzjohn, Yazmin Kayani, Andrea Lowe, Posy Sterling and Liz White. The set and costume designer is Kat Heath, lighting designer is Paule Constable, sound designer is Sinéad Diskin, motion director is Sarita Piotrowski with casting by Alastair Coomer CDG and Bryony Jarvis-Taylor.
Sam Mendes directs The Motive and the Cue, a startling new play by Jack Thorne impressed by the making of Burton and Gielgud’s Hamlet.
Richard Burton, newly married to Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title position in an experimental new manufacturing of Hamlet underneath John Gielgud’s exacting route. But as rehearsals progress, two ages of theatre collide and the collaboration between actor and director quickly threatens to unravel. This fierce and humorous new play presents a glimpse into the politics of a rehearsal room and the connection between artwork and movie star.
Opening within the Lyttelton theatre in May the forged contains Johnny Flynn as Burton, Mark Gatiss as Gielgud and Tuppence Middleton as Taylor. The forged additionally contains Allan Corduner, Ryan Ellsworth, Aysha Kala, Luke Norris, Michael Walters and Laurence Ubong Williams.
The Motive and the Cue was commissioned by Neal Street Productions and has been developed and co-produced by the National Theatre and Neal Street Productions. Set design is by Es Devlin, costume designer is Katrina Lindsay, lighting designer is Jon Clark, composer is Benjamin Kwasi Burrell, sound designer is Paul Arditti, video designer is Luke Halls, casting by Alastair Coomer CDG and Naomi Downham and affiliate director is Zoé Ford Burnett.
Inspired by Letters from an Actor by William Redfield and John Gielgud Directs Richard Burton in Hamlet by Richard L. Sterne.
Anupama Chandrasekhar’s acclaimed play The Father and the Assassin returns to the Olivier theatre in September 2023. This gripping play traces the lifetime of Nathuram Godse, journalist, nationalist – the person who murdered Gandhi, from a religious follower of Gandhi by to his radicalisation and their last tragic encounter. Directed by Indhu Rubasingham, with Paul Bazely returning to play Gandhi.
Set and costume designer is Rajha Shakiry, lighting designer is Oliver Fenwick, motion director is Lucy Cullingford, composer is Siddhartha Khosla, extra music by David Shrubsole, sound designer is Alexander Caplen, and combat administrators are Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown of Rc-Annie Ltd. Casting is by Alastair Coomer CDG and Jatinder Chera.
Tickets for Dancing at Lughnasa, The Motive and the Cue and Dixon and Daughters go on sale to the general public on Thursday 8 December.