National Theatre announces Season Updates

Dom O'Hanlon
Dom O'Hanlon

The National Theatre under the Artistic Directorship of Rufus Norris have announced further details of the current and upcoming season, including further dates and casting for previously announced productions.

Public Booking for the second half of the season opens on 21 June 2016.


In the OLIVIER THEATRE

Amadeus - 19 October - 31 December 2016
Michael Longhurst will direct this new production of Peter Shaffer's classic play, which had its world premiere at the NT in 1979. Lucian Msamati will play the lead role of 'Salieri'.

Designed by Chloe Lamford, with music direction and additional music by Simon Slater, it will feature choreography by Imogen Knight, lighting by Jon Clark and sound by Paul Arditti.

"Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a rowdy young prodigy who arrives in Vienna determined to make a splash. Awestruck by his genius, Court Composer Antonio Salieri has the power to promote his talent or destroy it. Seized by obsessive jealousy he begins a war with Mozart, with music and, ultimately, with God."

Peter Pan - From 16 November 2016
Sally Cookson will return to the National following her production of 'Jane Eyre' with a devised adaptation of JM Barrie's classic play which originally played in the Bristol Old Vic in 2012. The cast will include Saikat Ahamed, Suzanne Ahmet, Marc Antolin, Lois Chimimba, Laura Cubitt, Phoebe Fildes, Felix Hayes, Paul Hilton, John Leader, Amaka Okafor, John Pfumojena, Jessica Temple, Sophie Thompson, Dan Wheeler and Madeleine Worrall.

"When Peter Pan, the leader of the Lost Boys, loses his shadow during a visit to London, headstrong Wendy helps him reattach it. In return she is invited to Neverland - where Tinker Bell the fairy, Tiger Lily and the vengeful Captain Hook await."

The production will feature set design by Michael Vale, costume design by Katie Sykes, lighting by Aideen Malone, music by Benji Bower, sound design by Dominic Bilkey, movement by Dan Canham, aerial direction by Gwen Hales, fight direction by Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown of RC-ANNIE Ltd and puppet direction and design by Toby Olié.

The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill which is currently running at the Olivier has extended its booking to 1 October 2016. Directed by Rufus Norris, the production stars Rory Kinnear as 'Macheath' alongside Jamie Beddard, Rosalie Craig and Nick Holder.

The Red Barn - 6 October - 19 November 2016
Almeida Associate Director Robert Icke will direct a new play by David Hare, based on Georges Simenon's novel 'La Main'. Produced in association with Scott Rudin, it will mark Icke's NT debut, and Hare's 17th new play at the venue.

"The great detective writer Georges Simenon escaped France at the end of World War Two, and arrived in the USA to start again. With his American wife, he settled at Shadow Rock Farm in Lakeville. Years later, he wrote La Main, a psychological thriller set in a New England farmhouse. David Hare has taken this novel and forged from it a startling new play that unfolds in Connecticut in 1969. On their way back from a party, two couples struggle home through the snow. Not everyone arrives safely."

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour - 8 August - 1 October 2016
Vicky Featherstone will direct the stage adaptation of Alan Warner's cult Scottish novel 'The Sopranos', in a co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland and Live Theatre.

"This musical tells the story of six girls on the cusp of change. Funny, sad, rude and beautifully sung, Our Ladies... is a tribute to being young, lost and out of control, featuring a soundtrack of classical music and 70s pop rock, to create a wild and tender 'play meets gig' about singing, sex and Sambuca. Suitable for those aged 16 and over."

The full cast includes Melissa Allan, Caroline Deyga, Kirsty Findlay, Karen Fishwick, Joanne McGuiness, Kirsty MacLaren, Frances Mayli McCann and Dawn Sievewright with musicians Amy Shackcloth, Laura Bangay, Becky Brass and Emily Linden.

It will feature music arrangement and supervision by Martin Lowe, design by Chloe Lamford, lighting design by Lizzie Powell and choreography by Imogen Knight.

A Pacifist's Guide to the War on Cancer - 14 October to 29 November 2016
A new musical production featuring book by Bryony Kimmings and Brian Lobel, music by Tom Parkinson and lyrics by Bryony Kimmings will be a co-production with A Complicite Associates in association with HOME Manchester.

"This brand new musical confronts the highs and lows of the scariest word we know. Bryony Kimmings creates fearless theatre to provoke social change. Her collaboration with Complicite looks behind the poster campaigns and pink ribbons at the reality of cancer: waiting rooms and chemo suites, changed bodies, family pressures and financial worries. Expect big anthems, shiny costumes, blood, tears and real cancer patients in this rip-roaring, heart-breaking celebration of ordinary life and death."

Directed by Bryony Kimmings, the cast includes Naana Agyei-Ampadu, Amy Booth-Steel, Hal Fowler, Amanda Hadingue, Golda Rosheuvel and Gareth Snook and features set design by Lucy Osborne, costume design by Christina Cunningham, choreography by Lizzi Gee, music direction by Marc Tritschler, lighting design by Paul Anderson and sound design by Lewis Gibson.

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