NT announce Mar - May 2008 Schedule

NT announce Mar - May 2008 Schedule

The National Theatre has announced new productions and new platforms for its March - May 2008 Season

Public booking opens 7 Feb 2008

Shows extended or closing....

Baby Girl/DNA/The Miracle (closes 10 Apr 2008)
Happy Now (Closes 10 May 2008)
Hour We Knew Nothing... (Closes 12 Apr 2008)
Major Barbara (extended to 15 May 2008)

New Platforms announced....
(6pm (45 mins) £3·50 unless stated

Kathleen Turner
11 March, Olivier
Talks about her life and work and her poignant autobiographical self-portrait, Send Yourself Roses: My Life, Love and Leading Roles.

Claire Tomalin on Milton
26 March, Cottesloe
The renowned biographer introduces her selection of John Milton's poetry, ranging from the classical to the religious and from the lyrical to the epic.

Simon Russell Beale: A Shropshire Lad
28 March & 1 Apr, Cottesloe
Simon Russell Beale reads from AE Housman's cycle of poems about love and life and youth and the passing of time. With soundscape by Christopher Shutt.

The Mikado, The Odyssey
Thursday 3 April at 6pm / Saturday 5 April at 10am & 11am, Lyttelton
The Gate Theatre, National Theatre, Out of Joint, Paines Plough and Royal Court join forces to present Mark Ravenhill's Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat, an epic cycle of plays exploring the personal and political effect of war on modern life. The plays began life at last year's Edinburgh Festival as Ravenhill For Breakfast and form a collage of very different scenes, with each taking its title from another classic work. (See, Intolerance, Crime and Punishment for details of the plays in the Cottesloe.)

Intolerance, Crime and Punishment
Friday 4 April at 6pm / Saturday 5 April at 10am & 11am, Cottesloe
The Gate Theatre, National Theatre, Out of Joint, Paines Plough and Royal Court join forces to present Mark Ravenhill's Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat, an epic cycle of plays exploring the personal and political effect of war on modern life. The plays began life at last year's Edinburgh Festival as Ravenhill For Breakfast and form a collage of very different scenes, with each taking its title from another classic work. (See, The Mikado and The Odyssey for details of the plays in the Lyttelton.)

The August Wilson Century Cycle
7 Apr, Cottesloe
The late August Wilson's plays offer a sweeping view of the black American experience in the twentieth century. As the plays are published together, Bonnie Greer, Paulette Randall and Roy Williams celebrate the legacy of this influential and celebrated writer.

Mark Ravenhill on Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat
9 Apr, Cottesloe
While his series of short plays are appearing across London, Mark Ravenhill discusses the genesis and development of his work.

FREE THE WORD: A Celebration of World Literature
11 Apr at 6pm, Lyttelton / 11 Apr & 12 Apr at 9pm in Terrace Cafe
Presented by International PEN Meet the great writers you know and the great writers you don't... As part of International PEN's Free The Word: Festival of World Literature taking place at venues along the South Bank from 11-13 April, the National will be hosting events on 11 and 12 April including an opening Platform in the Lyttelton at 6pm and chill-out entertainment in the Late Lounge (Terrace Cafe).

Howard Brenton on Never So Good
17 Apr, Lyttelton
The playwright discusses his new play about Harold Macmillan

Nicholas Hytner on Major Barbara
24 Apr, Olivier
The Director of the National talks about his production of one of Bernard Shaw's most controversial plays.

Joan Didion on The Year of Magical Thinking
25 Apr, Lyttelton
The distinguished American writer reflects on her acclaimed work as the adaptation of her memoir arrives in the Lyttelton.

Roy Hattersley: Bernard Shaw and the Salvation Army - a Misalliance?
6 May, Olivier
Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara pits the Salvation Army against the arms trade; Roy Hattersley, former Labour minister and author of Blood & Fire: William and Catherine Booth and Their Salvation Army, explores the themes of the play.

Tony Harrison, Edith Hall and Oliver Taplin on Fram
9 May, Olivier
Tony Harrison is joined by classical scholars Edith Hall and Oliver Taplin to explore the many links between Gilbert Murray, Greek drama, the League of Nations and a large part of the current Olivier repertoire. As well as Murray being a leading character in Harrison's Fram, he and his wife Mary were also the inspiration for fellow-Humanist Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara and Adolphus Cusins.

Marianne Elliott and Simon Stephens on Harper Regan
13 May, Cottesloe
The director and playwright talk about the premiere of Harper Regan in the Cottesloe with Dan Rebellato.

Acting with Facts - Docudrama
14 May, Lyttelton
David Edgar and Derek Paget explore the impact of the increasingly popular genre of documentary drama; they discuss the specific challenges and strange experience of playing real, and sometimes living, people on stage.

Mark Thomas on the Arms Trade
15 May, Olivier
Major Barbara focuses on the munitions ethics in 1905; Mark Thomas, comedian and political campaigner, explores the contemporary arms trade in As Used on the Famous Nelson Mandela, uncovering major loopholes in the law surrounding arms and torture weapons.

Michael Frayn: Stage Directions - Writing on Theatre
19 May, Lyttelton
This new collection charts Michael Frayn's path into the theatre - from the 'doubtful beginnings' of his childhood to his subsequent scorn as a young man and, surprisingly late in life, his reluctant conversion to the stage.