The National Theatre has announced that plays by Simon Woods, Athol Fugard, Andrew Bovell, Brian Friel, Andy Stanton, Ben Weatherill and David Hare will be presented from May to October 2019.
The National Theatre’s May to October 2019 schedule will include an exciting mix of new writing and classics.
Hansard (22 August – 24 October 2019) is a new play by Simon Woods is to be premiered in the Lyttelton Theatre. Simon Godwin directs Lindsay Duncan and Alex Jennings. It’s a summer’s morning in 1988 and Tory politician Robin Hesketh has returned home to the idyllic Cotswold house he shares with his wife of 30 years, Diana. But all is not as blissful as it seems. Diana has a stinking hangover, a fox is destroying the garden, and secrets are being dug up all over the place. As the day draws on, what starts as gentle ribbing and the familiar rhythms of marital scrapping quickly turns to blood-sport.
‘Master Harold’…and the boys (21 September onwards) returns directed by Roy Alexander Weise and featuring Lucian Msamati and Hammed Animashaun in the cast. Tony Award-winning playwright Athol Fugard’s semi-autobiographical and blistering masterwork explores the nature of friendship, and the ways people are capable of hurting even those they love.
Following performances at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Sydney Theatre Company will bring their production of The Secret River (22 August – 7 September) by Kate Grenville adapted for the stage by Andrew Bovell and directed by Neil Armfield, the play tells the story of two families divided by culture and land.
Brian Friel’s Translations (15 October onwards) directed by Ian Rickson returns following last year’s sell-out run where Ciaran Hinds reprising the role of Hugh, whose livelihood and culture are at risk. He will be re-joined by Seamus O’Hara and Judith Roddy, with further cast to be announced. Brian Friel’s modern classic sees the turbulent relationship between England and Ireland play out in one quiet community.
Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear – the Musical! (25 July – 31 August) sees Andy Stanton adapt his award-winning children’s book into a musical with music by Jim Fortune directed by Amy Hodge. Who likes bears? Everyone likes bears! Well, not quite everyone…Mr Gum is a complete horror who hates children, animals and fun of any kind – so when a big bear called Padlock strolls into town, trouble can’t be far off. Can nine-year-old Polly and her band of misfit friends help Padlock escape the villain’s evil clutches, or will Mr Gum and his gruesome butcher sidekick prevail?
Ben Weatherill’s Jellyfish (5 – 16 July) comes to the Dorfman Theatre from a sell-out run at the Bush Theatre with Sarah Gordy returning to play Kelly. Jellyfish is the story of a first kiss, chips by the beach and coming of age with Down’s Syndrome in a seaside town. It’s a unique romance across uncharted waters which asks: does everyone really have the right to love as they choose?
Peter Gynt (27 June onwards) by David Hare, after Henrik Ibsen will star James McArdle in the title role. Peter Gynt has always set his heart on being special, on being a unique individual, on being unlike anyone else. When he steals the bride from a local wedding, he sets off on a lifetime journey which will take him to Florida, to Egypt, to a mountain of trolls, and finally, only when death approaches, back to his home in Scotland.
These productions join Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, Andrea Levy’s Small Island adapted by Helen Edmundson, ANNA conceived by Ella Hickson, Ben and Max Ringham, Githa Sowerby’s Rutherford and Son and a new tour of Home, I’m Darling.
