Donmar Warehouse season to 14 March 2009

Donmar Warehouse season to 14 March 2009

The Donmar Warehouse has announced its new season to 14 March 2009. Joining previously mentioned, "The Chalk Garden" is "Piaf" with Elena Roger; Strindberg's "Creditors"; T.S. Eliot's "The Family Reunion"; & "Be Near Me" by Andrew O'Hagan, starring Ian McDiarmid, plus several readings.

Public booking is already open for "The Chalk Garden". Public booking opens 2 June for Piaf, Creditors & Family Reunion. No date has been set for when booking opens for "Be Near Me".

Full details below...

5 June - 2 Aug 2008 (Opening night 11 June)
THE CHALK GARDEN
By Enid Bagnold, directed by Michael Grandage, designed by Peter McKintosh, lighting by Paule Constable, sound by Adam Cork.
Starring Penelope Wilton, Margaret Tyzack , Steph Bramwell, Linda Broughton, Suzanne Burden, Jamie Glover, Felicity Jones, Clifford Rose.
Raised in a manor house beside the sea, where the flowers struggle to grow, sixteen-year-old Laurel runs wild. As her eccentric grandmother tends to the garden, Laurel's need for love forces her into a world of fantasy. But things begin to change with the sudden appointment of a governess who brings a mysterious new presence to an already dysfunctional household.

8 Aug - 20 Sep 2008 (Opening night 13 Aug)
PIAF
by Pam Gems, directed by Jamie Lloyd, designed by Soutra Gilmour, lighting by Neil Austin, sound by Christopher Shutt, musical director Nigel Lilley, original composition by Ben and Max Ringham.
Starring Elena Roger.
From the streets of Paris to worldwide fame, Edith Piaf continues to be remembered and revered for her exceptional voice and her equally extraordinary life. In this new production of Piaf, Pam Gems has reworked her 1978 play vividly capturing the glamour and squalor, the rise and fall, of this complex, fragile and enigmatic performer.

25 Sep - 15 Nov 2008 (Opening night 30 Sep)
CREDITORS
by Strindberg, in a new version by David Greig , directed by Alan Rickman
Anxiously awaiting the return of his new wife, Adolf finds solace in the words of a stranger. But comfort soon turns to destruction as old wounds are opened, insecurities are laid bare and former debts are settled.

20 Nov 2008 - 10 Jan 2009 (Opening night 25 Nov)
THE FAMILY REUNION
by T.S. Eliot, directed by Jeremy Herrin, designed by Bunny Christie, sound by Nick Powell.
After eight years absence, Harry returns to the ancestral home to celebrate his mother's birthday. Tormented by a dark secret, he confides in Aunt Agatha only to discover that the family too have their own hidden demons..

22 Jan - 14 Mar 2009 (Opening night 26 Jan)
BE NEAR ME
by Andrew O'Hagan, adapted for the stage by Ian McDiarmid, directed by John Tiffany, co produced Donmar Warehouse /National Theatre of Scotland.
Starring Ian McDiarmid (Father David Anderton)
David Anderton, an Oxford-educated Catholic priest is assigned to a parish in a dispirited Scottish town on the Ayrshire coast. Lonely and adrift he befriends two unstable teenagers from the local school and is drawn into their exotic world. As events spin out of control he is forced to face his greatest trial yet.

T.S. Eliot Festival Readings....

1 December 2008 & 5 January 2009
Readings of Eliot's Verse
Produced and Directed by Josephine Hart
Two evenings of Eliot's verse, including The Waste Land, read by some of the country's leading actors.

2 December 2008
Murder in the Cathedral
A reading directed by: Douglas Hodge
Written in 1935, T.S. Eliot's remarkable poetic drama about the life and death of Thomas à Becket receives a semi-staged reading for one performance only.

17 December 2008
The Cocktail Party
A reading directed by: Jamie Lloyd
Considered the most popular of his plays in his lifetime, The Cocktail Party (1949) will receive a semi-staged reading for one evening only. Warring married couple Edward and Lavinia Chamberlayne are about to throw a cocktail party at their London home when Lavinia chooses the moment to leave her husband. A highly original take on the 'drawing room comedy' of the era.

14 - 17 January, matinees on 15 & 17 January 2009
Four Quartets
Director: Katie Mitchell
Stephen Dillane will read T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets and a string quartet from The Philharmonia Orchestra will perform Beethoven's op 132 for 6 performances only.