NOVEMBER 2008 – FEBRUARY 2009

GETHSEMANE by David Hare premieres in the Cottesloe, directed by Howard Davies
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY by Tracy Letts receives its London premiere in Steppenwolf’s production
EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR by Tom Stoppard and André Previn is directed in the Olivier by Felix Barrett and Tom Morris, in a co-production with Southbank Sinfonia
Marianne Elliott directs MRS AFFLECK, a new play by Samuel Adamson from Ibsen’s Little Eyolf
Discover: Primary Classics – MACBETH in a version for younger audiences

GETHSEMANE
Cottesloe Theatre, Previews from 4 November, press night 11 November, continuing in repertoire

A new play by David Hare, GETHSEMANE, opens at the Cottesloe on 11 November, directed by Howard Davies. The cast includes Anthony Calf, Tamsin Greig, Jessica Raine, Daniel Ryan, Stanley Townsend and Nicola Walker. The production will have set designs by Bob Crowley and costumes by Fotini Dimou, with lighting by Mark Henderson and sound by Christopher Shutt.

GETHSEMANE will continue in repertoire at the Cottesloe until 24 February, after which the production will tour the UK. Nothing is more important to a modern political party than fund-raising. But the values of the donor can’t always coincide with the professed beliefs of the party. And family scandal within the cabinet has the potential to throw both the money-raisers and the money-spenders into chaos. David Hare’s new ensemble play about British public life looks at the way business, media and politics are now intertwined to nobody’s advantage, as, in an unforgiving world, one character after another passes through Gethsemane.

GETHSEMANE is David Hare’s fourteenth original play for the National Theatre; the others include Stuff Happens, The Permanent Way (a co-production with Out of Joint), Amy’s View, Skylight, The Secret Rapture, The Absence of War, Murmuring Judges, Racing Demon, Pravda (written with Howard Brenton) and Plenty.

Tamsin Greig makes her National Theatre debut; her recent theatre credits include God of Carnage (West End), Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (for which she received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress) and King John for the RSC. Her extensive television work includes Green Wing (RTS and Bafta Awards), Love Soup and Black Books; radio includes playing Debbie in The Archers. Other members of the cast have all recently appeared at the National: Anthony Calf as Anthony Eden in Howard Brenton’s Never So Good; Stanley Townsend in Lucinda Coxon’s Happy Now?; and Jessica Raine in Simon Stephens’ Harper Regan. Nicola Walker was last at the National in Edmond and Tales from the Vienna Woods.

Howard Davies is an Associate Director at the NT, where his recent productions include Her Naked Skin, Never So Good, Present Laughter, Philistines, The Life of Galileo, Paul, The House of Bernarda Alba and Mourning Becomes Electra Gethsemane is supported by JPMorgan through the JPMorgan Art of Learning programme.

picture: Alienation and impotence … Nicola Walker and Jessica Raine in Gethsemane. Photograph: Tristram Kento

---

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
Lyttelton Theatre, Previews from 21 November, press night 26 November, playing until 21 Januar

The internationally renowned Steppenwolf Company returns to London with AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY by Tracy Letts, running in the Lyttelton Theatre from 21 November – 21 January. The production, which ran in Chicago and on Broadway to great acclaim, is directed by Anna D Shapiro, with set design by Todd Rosenthal, costumes by Ana Kuzmanic, lighting by Ann G Wrightson, music by David Singer, fights by Chuck Coyl and sound by Richard Woodbury.

When the large Weston family unexpectedly reunites in Oklahoma, after their father disappears, their home explodes in a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets. Tracy Letts’ new play unflinchingly – and uproariously – exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family. Tracy Letts’ plays include Man From Nebraska, Killer Joe at London’s Bush and Vaudeville Theatres, Bug, and Superior Donuts which is currently playing in the Steppenwolf repertoire. He has been a member of the Steppenwolf acting ensemble since 1988 and has appeared in many of their productions, including Glengarry Glen Ross, Homebody/Kabul and in the title role of The Dresser.

Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company was last seen at the National Theatre in 1989 with The Grapes of Wrath. Steppenwolf was formed in 1976 and is committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights. The production flight partner for August: Osage County is American Airlines.

Contact: Mary Parker on 020 7452 3234; mparker@nationaltheatre.org.uk

---

EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR
Olivier Theatre, Previews from 12 January, press night 16 January, continuing in repertoir

EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR by Tom Stoppard and André Previn opens in the Olivier Theatre on 16 January, directed by Felix Barrett and Tom Morris. A co-production with Southbank Sinfonia, Britain’s young professional orchestra, conducted by Simon Over, EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR will be designed by Bob Crowley, with lighting by Bruno Poet, choreography by Maxine Doyle and sound by Christopher Shutt.

A dissident is locked up in an asylum. If he accepts that he was ill, has been treated and is now cured, he will be released. He refuses. Sharing his cell is a real lunatic who believes himself to be surrounded by an orchestra. As the dissident’s son begs his father to free himself with a lie, Tom Stoppard’s darkly funny and provocative play asks if denying the truth is a price worth paying for liberty.

Tom Stoppard’s long association with the National Theatre began with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead in 1967, and went on to include productions of Jumpers, On the Razzle, Rough Crossing, The Real Inspector Hound, Arcadia, The Invention of Love and The Coast of Utopia. His stage plays also include Travesties, The Real Thing and, most recently, Rock ‘n’ Roll at the Royal Court, West End and Broadway (for which he won his seventh Evening Standard Award).

André Previn’s distinguished career as a conductor, composer and pianist has included chief artistic posts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Houston Symphony Orchestra. He has composed numerous orchestral and chamber works, and over fifty film scores, as well as an opera based on Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire.

Southbank Sinfonia was set up in 2002 by Founder and Music Director Simon Over, to support promising young performers who have just graduated from music college. Its aim is to invest in the future of Britain’s orchestral tradition by providing opportunities to springboard young performers into the profession. Felix Barrett is artistic director of Punchdrunk, whose recent productions include Faust and The Masque of the Red Death. Formerly Artistic Director of BAC, where he directed numerous productions, Tom Morris developed Coram Boy, co-adapted A Matter of Life and Death, and co-directed War Horse with Marianne Elliott for the NT. He is an Associate Director of the National.

EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR is sponsored by American Express.

---

MRS AFFLEC

Cotttesloe Theatre, Previews from 20 January, press night 27 January, continuing in repertoire

MRS AFFLECK, a new play by Samuel Adamson from Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf, will open in the Cottesloe Theatre on 27 January, directed by Marianne Elliott and designed by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Neil Austin, music by Stephen Warbeck and sound by Christopher Shutt. The cast includes Claire Skinner in the title role, with Naomi Frederick and Angus Wright. Samuel Adamson’s new play takes Ibsen’s Little Eyolf as the inspiration for a passionate and tragic tale of obsessive love, set in 1950s England.

After six lonely weeks with nobody but her crippled little boy for company, Rita Affleck, wealthy, beautiful and consumed by jealous love, welcomes home her husband Alfred. But, far from the passionate reunion she so craves, there is only torment as Alfred’s possessive half-sister arrives, and he announces his great revelation. Samuel Adamson’s plays include Southwark Fair and a new version of Ibsen’s Pillars of the Community at the National; Clocks and Whistles (Time Out award), Drink, Dance, Laugh and Lie (both for the Bush Theatre), and Grace Note (Peter Hall Company at the Old Vic). He has also adapted Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard for Oxford Stage Company and, most recently, Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother at the Old Vic.

Claire Skinner’s work in the theatre includes A Winter’s Tale, Othello and Invisible Friends at the National; The Glass Menagerie (Time Out and London Critics’ Circle Best Actress Award) at the Donmar Warehouse; and The Importance of Being Earnest in the West End. TV includes Burn Up, Lark Rise to Candleford, Sense and Sensibility, Outnumbered and The Trials of Tony Blair; film includes Sleepy Hollow, Life is Sweet and Naked.

Naomi Frederick was last seen at the National playing Isabella in Measure for Measure; she is currently playing Laura in Kneehigh’s production of Brief Encounter in the West End. Angus Wright’s recent work at the NT includes Friedrich Müller in War Horse and the Earl of Warwick in Saint Joan. Marianne Elliott is an Associate Director at the National, where she has directed Harper Regan, Saint Joan, Pillars of the Community (for which she won the Evening Standard Award for Best Director), Thérèse Raquin and War Horse (co-directed with Tom Morris).