Three World Premieres announced at the Hampstead

Dom O'Hanlon
Dom O'Hanlon

The Hampstead Theatre in north London has announced three premieres in their upcoming season that will bring Roger Allam, Jeremy Brock, Richard Eyre, David Hare, Jeremy Herrin and Simon Russell Beale to the Theatre.

Mr Foote's Other Leg by Ian Kelly will run at the venue from 14 September to 17 October 2015, with an official opening on 21 September 2015. Directed by Richard Eyre, it will feature designs by Tim Hatley and star Simon Russell Beale as Mr Samuel Foote.

"In Georgian London no one is more famous than Samuel Foote. Satirist, impressionist and dangerous comedian, he has become a celebrity in a city, and at the moment in time, when the concept of selling personality was born. He even has the ear of the king. Adored by many, despised by some, Foote finds himself at the sharp end of attacks from the press...and a surgeon's knife. And in an age obsessed with fame, his colleagues from the worlds of science and the stage - from Benjamin Franklin to David Garrick - begin to wonder: does fame make you mad?"

Ian Kelly's new play is based on his award-winning biography of Foote that explores our obsession with the rise and fall of celebrity through the true story of the Oscar Wilde of the 18th century.

This will be followed by The Moderate Soprano by David Hare, directed by Jeremy Herrin and designed Rae Smith, starring Roger Allam as John Christie.

The production will run from 23 October to 28 November 2015, with an official opening on 29 October 2015.

"Nobody can doubt John Christie's passion or his formidable will: he wooed his opera singer wife with a determination befitting a man who won the Military Cross. Now, in 1934, this Etonian science teacher's admiration for the works of Wagner leads him to embark on an ambitious project: the construction of an Opera House on his estate in Sussex. But such is the scale of the enterprise that passion alone may not be enough. It's only when a famous violinist is accidentally fogged in overnight in Eastbourne that Christie first hears word of a group of refugees for whom life in Germany is becoming impossible. Perhaps they can deliver Christie's vision of the sublime - assuming of course they're willing to cast his wife in the lead."

The Hampstead Theatre Downstairs will also present a new production, 36 Phone Calls by Jeremy Brock, directed by Jo McInnes which runs from 25 June to 18 July 2015.

"As Martin's carefully constructed lives - as husband, father, son, lover, client, employee and patient - spiral out of control he must decide what is truly important, and how he can even begin to atone for his mistakes."

Tickets for all productions are now on sale.

Originally published on

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