NT announces productions Jan - April 2007

NT announces productions Jan - April 2007

The National Theatre has announced productions for Jan - April 2007

Public booking opens 23 Nov 2006 for new productions

Repertoire dates can be found at: HERE

New productions...

Happy Days
by Samuel Beckett
(Lyttelton, Previews from 18 Jan 2007, Opens 24 Jan, Closes 1 March 2007)
Starring Fiona Shaw (Winnie)
Directed by Deborah Warner, designed by Tom Pye, lighting by Jean Kalman, music by Mel Mercier and sound by Christopher Shutt.
Blazing light, scorched grass. Buried to above her waist and woken by a piercing bell, Winnie chatters away as she rummages in a bag, brushes her teeth, pulls out and kisses a revolver. Her husband, Willie, responds now and then, reads from an old paper, studies a pornographic postcard. A second bell signals the end of another happy day.

The Man of Mode
by George Etherege
(Olivier, Previews from 29 Jan 2007, Opens 6 Feb, Booking to 10 March 2007)
Starring Hayley Atwell (Belinda), Tom Hardy (Dorimant), Amber Agah, Nancy Carroll, Shelley King, Rory Kinnear, Amit Shah
Directed by Nicholas Hytner , designed by Vicki Mortimer, lighting by Neil Austin, music by Grant Olding and sound by Paul Groothuis.
Dorimant, who can generally charm any woman in town back to his apartment, can't persuade Belinda into his bed until he's promised to dump Loveit, his current mistress. Mission accomplished, he turns his sights on Harriet, who is rich enough to solve his financial problems but smart enough not to play his game.

The Reporter
New play by Nicholas Wright
(Cottesloe, Previews from 14 Feb 2007, Opens 21 Feb, booking to 24 March 2007)
Starring Ben Chaplin (James Mossman), Paul Ritter, Angela Thorne
Directed by Richard Eyre, design by Rob Howell, lighting by Peter Mumford, sound by Rich Walsh and video design by Jon Driscoll.
Based on the remarkable life of the star BBC correspondent James Mossman during his last years, 1963 to 1971, The Reporter searches for the truth behind his bewildering suicide. What lies beneath the surface? Or is the surface ultimately all there is?

Attempts on Her Life
(Lyttelton, Previews from 8 March 2007, Opens 14 Mar, Booking to 29 March 2007)
by Martin Crimp
Starring Kate Duchene, Michael Gould, Jacqueline Kington
Directed by Katie Mitchell , design by Vicki Mortimer, lighting by Paule Constable, music by Paul Clark and sound by Gareth Fry.
Martin Crimp's '17 scenarios for the theatre', shocking and hilarious by turns, are a roller-coaster of late 20th century obsessions. From pornography and ethnic violence, to terrorism and unprotected sex, its strange array of nameless characters attempt to invent the perfect story to encapsulate our time.

Sizwe Banzi Is Dead
by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona
(Lyttelton, Previews from 19 March 2007, Opens 21 Mar, Closes 4 April 2007)
Starring John Kani , Winston Ntshona
Directed by Aubrey Sekhabi, lighting by Mannie Manim, produced by Baxter Theatre Centre, South Africa.
Sizwe Banzi is Dead brings an irresistible comic energy to its examination of friendship, hope and the nature of identity, as one man struggles to survive under apartheid.

Caucasian Chalk Circle
by Bertolt Brecht, in a version by Frank McGuinness
(Cottesloe, Previews from 7 March 2007, Opens 8 March, Closes 14 April 2007)
Starring Nicolas Tennant (Azdak), Cath Whitefield (Grusha), Leo Chadburn, Oliver Dimsdale, Thusitha Jayasundera, John Lloyd Fillingham, Ferdy Roberts, Gemma Saunders, Mo Sesay
Directed by Sean Holmes, designed by Anthony Lamble, lighting by Paule Constable, Video design by Lorna Heavey, and music/sound design by Chris Branch, Tom Haines and Tim Phillips. Co-produced by National Theatre / Filter (renowned for their unique fusion of music, movement and video imagery).
A servant girl sacrifices everything to protect a child abandoned in the heat of civil war. Order restored, she is made to confront the boy's biological mother in a legal contest over who deserves to keep him. The comical judge calls on an ancient tradition - the chalk circle - to resolve the dispute. Who wins?

Shows Extended...

The Seafarer
(Closes 30 Jan 2007)
Waves
(Closes 8 Feb 2007)
Therese Raquin
(Closes 21 Feb 2007)

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

Simon Armitage: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
23 January, Cottesloe
Simon Armitage introduces a reading from his major new version of one of the earliest great stories in English literature. Originally composed by an anonymous poet around 1400, it tells of Gawain's wintery quest for the mysterious green knight on a green horse.

Virginia Woolf
2 February , Cottesloe
Academic Gillian Beer, biographer Hermione Lee and film-maker Sally Potter discuss the work of one of the most distinctive and innovative writers of the twentieth century.

Emile Zola
7 February, Lyttelton
Leading Zola authorities Susan Harrow and Russell Cousins examine this towering literary figure of the nineteenth century, and look at how different media have embraced his work.

Kenneth Tynan: Theatre Writings
13 February, Lyttelton
Prior to his appointment as the National's first Literary Manager, Kenneth Tynan was one of the most influential theatre critics of his age. His biographer, Dominic Shellard, introduces a new selection of his reviews and articles, including pieces on Miller, Osborne, Coward and Eliot, and on topics such as censorship, Broadway and the National Theatre.

Charlotte Emmerson and Judy Parfitt on Thérèse Raquin
19 February, Lyttelton
The actors battling it out nightly as Zola's passionate heroine and her oppressive mother-in-law, talk about bringing this gripping thriller to the stage.

Nicholas Wright on The Reporter
23 February, Cottesloe
The playwright discusses his new play and how real-life events inspired his enthralling detective story.

Deborah Warner and Fiona Shaw on Happy Days
27 February, Lyttelton
Deborah Warner and Fiona Shaw talk about their prolific and popular theatre partnership, as they return to the National with Samuel Beckett's masterpiece, thirty years after its last appearance in the Lyttelton.

Nicholas Hytner on The Man of Mode
6 March, Olivier
The National's Director discusses his contemporary twist on Etherege's glittering comedy of manners.

Taking Stock: The Theatre of Max Stafford-Clark
16 March, Cottesloe
Max Stafford-Clark has been at the cutting edge of British theatre for over thirty years. The influential director and founder of Out of Joint, talks about the evolution of nine of his most famous productions, including Cloud Nine, Our Country's Good and Some Explicit Polaroids.

Sean Holmes on The Caucasian Chalk Circle
21 March, Cottesloe
The director is joined by members of Filter Theatre Company to discuss their version of Brecht's morality play as the NT Education's Mobile tour arrives in the Cottesloe.

John Kani and Winston Ntshona on Sizwe Banzi is Dead
26 March, Lyttelton
As the legendary theatrical partners John Kani and Winston Ntshona return to the National, they talk about the remarkable history of the play and their long-standing collaboration.