NATIONAL THEATRE ANNOUNCE NEW PRODUCTIONS NOV 2002

NATIONAL THEATRE ANNOUNCE NEW PRODUCTIONS

The National Theatre has announced new productions...

(Public booking opens by post/fax on Mon 25 Nov, by Tel/in person 16 Dec 02)

The Talking Cure
extends to 5 Feb 03
Anything Goes
extends to 22 Mar 03
The Laughing Matter
extends to 29 Mar 03
She Stoops To Conquer
extends to 29 Mar 03

New productions include ....

in the Olivier
Love's Labour's Lost
by William Shakespeare
(opens 21 Feb 03, following previews from 15 Feb 03, closes 18 Mar 03).
Directed by Trevor Nunn, designed by John Gunter, with lighting by David Hersey. The cast includes John Barrowman (Dumaine), Simon Day (King of Navarre), Anthony Cable, Paul Grunert, Richard Henders, Akiya Henry, Tam Mutu, Denis Quilley (Boyet) and Robin Soans (Holofernes).

This will the National's first production of this early masterpiece on the South Bank.

The young King of Navarre and his three friends make a vow to deny themselves the company of women for three years in order to devote themselves to study. But when the young Princess of France arrives on a diplomatic mission, accompanied by a delectable entourage, their vow is soon severely tested. Secret courtships develop as love fills the air, until harsh news from the outside world overshadows the happiness and brings the idyll to an abrupt close.

Pericles
Ninagawa Company, translated by Kazuko Matsuoka,
(28 Mar to 5 Apr 03).
Directed by Yukio Ninagawa, the cast includes Masaaki Uchino, Yuko Tanaka, Kayoko Shiraishi, Tetsuro Sagawa, Masachika Ichimura. The designer is Tsukasa Nakagoshi, with costumes by Lily Komine, lighting by Tamotsu Harada and sound by Masahiro Inoue. The production is presented by Thelma Holt Ltd in association with Horipro Inc and Saitama Arts Centre.

When Pericles, Prince of Tyre, solves the dark riddle set by the King of Antioch, he is forced to flee the country. Shipwrecked on the shores of Pentapolis, he weds Princess Thaisa, only to be parted in another sea-storm... His miraculous story takes place over sixteen years, and encompasses love, loss, incest, prostitution, kidnap and reconciliation.

Yukio Ninagawa first visited the National with his celebrated productions of Macbeth and Medea in 1987, returning with Suicide for Love in 1989. In 2002 Ninagawa was awarded an honorary CBE.

Note: this production is in Japanese. There will be no simultaneous translation; however a full plot synopsis will be available.

in the Lyttelton
The Duchess Of Malfi
by John Webster
(opens 28 Jan 03, following previews from 18 Jan 03, booking to 10 Mar 03).
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd, designed by Mark Thompson, with lighting by Mark Henderson, music by Gary Yershon Janet McTeer will play the title role. The cast also includes Lorcan Cranitch (as Bosola), Eleanor David (Julia), Charles Edwards (Antonio), James Howard, Will Keen (Ferdinand), Penelope McGhie, Sally Rogers (Cariola) and Jonathan Slinger (Delio).

One of the great Jacobean tragedies, THE DUCHESS OF MALFI charts the calamitous consequences of a young widow's refusal to obey her brothers' command never to remarry. When the spy, Bosola, is planted in her household, the trap is set which leads to exile, torture, madness and death.

Janet McTeer's many theatre credits include "A Doll's House" in the West End and on Broadway, for which she won a Tony Award; "Simpatico", "Greenland" and "The Grace of Mary Traverse" at the Royal Court; and "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Worlds Apar"t and "The Storm" for the RSC. She has previously appeared at the National in "Uncle Vanya". Her film and television credits include "The Intended", "Waking the Dead", "The Governor", " Don't Leave Me This Way", "Miss Julie" and "Precious Bane".

in the Cottesloe
Honour
by Joanna Murray-Smith
(opens 27 Feb 03, following previews from 21 Feb 03, booking to 27 Mar 03).
Starring Eileen Atkins, Corin Redgrave
Directed by Roger Michell and designed by William Dudley, with lighting by Rick Fisher.

Joanna Murray-Smith's play anatomises marriage, or rather the failure of a marriage, with astonishing clarity. By turns funny and desperately sad, it sheds vivid light upon the battlefield of marital breakdown.

Joanna Murray-Smith is one of Australia's pre-eminent playwrights; her previous work includes the plays Rapture, Nightfall, Redemption, Love Child, Atlanta, Flame and Bombshells, which have been produced throughout Australia and all over the world. Honour was produced on Broadway in 1998. She has also written screenplays, an opera (Love in the Age of Therapy with composer Paul Grabowsky) and two novels (Truce and Judgement Rock). This is the first time her work has been produced in the UK.

Eileen Atkins has been seen at the National in "John Gabriel Borkman", "The Night of The Iguana", "The Winter's Tale" (Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress), "Mountain Language", "Cymbeline" and "Heartbreak House". Her extensive theatre work includes her one woman show "A Room of One's Own" (USA, Thames TV, Hampstead Theatre - Drama Desk Award Best Solo Performance), her own play "Vita and Virginia" (Chichester & Ambassadors), "A Delicate Balance" (Haymarket) and "The Unexpected Man" (RSC - Olivier Award for Best Actress). Her television work includes "Cold Comfort Farm", "David Copperfield", "Women Talking Dirty" and "Bertie and Elizabeth". Recent film includes "Let Him Have It", "Wolf", "Jack and Sarah", "The Avengers", "The Hours", "Gosford Park" and "Cold Mountain".

Corin Redgrave's most recent roles at the National were Hirst in "No Man's Land", Gaev in "The Cherry Orchard", Oscar Wilde in "In Extremis/De Profundis", and Boss Whalen in "Not About Nightingales" (also at the Alley Theatre, Houston and on Broadway), for which he received Best Actor nominations from the Olivier, Tony and Drama Desk Awards. Other recent theatre work includes "Blunt Speaking" (Chichester), "The Browning Version" (Derby) and "A Song at Twilight" (Gielgud Theatre). Television appearances include "Bertie and Elizabeth", "The Forsyte Saga", an Omnibus profile of his father Michael Redgrave, "Trial and Retribution" and "Persuasion"; recent films include "Enigma", "Honest", "The Opium War", "Four Weddings and a Funera"l and "In The Name of the Father".

The Tempest
by William Shakespeare
(3 perfs only by NT Education 19 & 20 Mar 03 (length 90 mins).
Directed by Mark Rosenblatt, designed by Jon Bauser.
A usurped duke and his young daughter are marooned on a forgotton island. Twelve years later, a tempest brings his enimies to the same shore. Revenge is in the air. Freedom beckons. The hour's now come.

New Platforms include......

A Laughing Matter & She Stoops to Conquer
10 Jan 03 / 6pm Lyttelton(£3.50)
With writer and director, April De Angelis and Max Stafford Clark

Michael Pennington as Anton Chekhov
14,15,17 Jan 03 / 2.30pm Cottesloe(£5)
Marking the publication of Are you there, Crocodile? Inventing Anton Chekhov, Michael Pennington performs his acclaimed solo show celebrating Chekhov's life and work. This book is a study of the great writer, a partial autobiography and an actor's search for identification with the elusive Chekhov himself, 'the story, humorously told, of an unlikely but tangible companionship'.

The Talking Cure: Karl Jung
17 Jan 03 / 6pm Cottesloe(£3.50)
With Jungian analyst, Andrew Samuels

Declan Donnellan
24 Jan 03 / 6pm Cottesloe(£3.50)
Declan Donnellan - the first Director of the RSC Academy - talks about The Actor and the Target, his book explaining his fresh and radical approach to acting

The Duchess of Malfi
27 Jan 03 / 6pm Lyttelton(£3.50)
With director, Phyllida Lloyd

The Talking Cure: Sabina Spielrein
29 Jan 03 / 6pm Cottesloe(£3.50)
With Coline Covington, Chair of the British Confederation of Psychotherapists, and Janet Sayers, Professor of Psychoanalytic Psychology at the University of Kent.

Oliver Ford Davies
31 Jan 03 / 6pm Cottesloe(£3.50)
A highly respected actor and former academic, Oliver Ford Davies talks about Playing Lear, providing a unique insight into Shakespeare's most monumentally complex character which he recently played at the Almeida Theatre.

The Threepenny Opera
12 Feb 03 / 6pm Cottesloe(£3.50)
With director, Tim Baker

Samuel Johnson : In Conversation
18 Feb & 19 Mar 03 / 6pm Lyttelton(£3.50)
A rare opportunity to hear the poet, essayist, dramatist, pioneering lexicographer, wit and conversationalist in an illuminating 'interview'. Ian Redford brings this major literary figure to life.

David Garrick: Acting Masterclass
20 Feb & 20 Mar 03 / 6pm Lyttelton(£3.50)
David Garrick was a legendary actor, director, impresario, author and all-round international megastar. Jason Watkins takes us through an 'acting masterclass' with the artist credited with reforming and developing the modern theatre as we know it.

Rehearsing: What is it? Why do it?
27 Feb 03 / 2pm - 4.30pm Lyttelton(£5)
Directors Max Stafford-Clark, Peter Leslie Wild and Mike Alfreds address the challenges, processes and unpredictable elements of rehearsal practice, in this half-day symposium chaired by Bella Merlin (Birmingham University). Lively debate encouraged!

Playwriting: Writing for the theatre
6 Mar 03 / 2pm - 4.30pm Lyttelton(£5)
Contemporary playwrights discuss the state of modern theatre writing and outline some of the practical considerations when writing for the stage at the beginning of the twenty-first century. With Stuart Spencer, author of The Playwright's Guidebook

...And Finally: Trevor Nunn
21 Mar 03 / 6pm Olivier (£3.50)
As Trevor Nunn prepares to hand over the reins to Nicholas Hytner he talks about his final productions, Love's Labour's Lost and Anything Goes, and reflects on his time at the National.

Pericles
31 Mar 03 / 6pm Olivier (£3.50)
Yukio Ninagawa in conversation with Thelma Holt