The National Theatre has announced details of its new season. In April the Galway Theatre Festival production of Enda Walsh’s Misterman receives its London premiere at the Lyttelton, with Cillian Murphy recreating his acclaimed solo performance in which he plays all the inhabitants of an Irish town. In the Cottesloe, Inua Ellams, whose solo spoken word show, The 14th Tale was also staged by the National, will present his new work Black T-Shirt Collection.
In May Lisa D’Amour’s play Detroit has its UK premiere in the Cottesloe; previously performed by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the production will be directed by Austin Pendleton who also directed in Chicago. Also in May, in the Olivier, Polly Findlay – whose previous work includes DC Moore’s Honest and, interestingly, the most recent Derren Brown live show, Svengali – directs Antigone, in a new version by Don Taylor and with a cast including Jodie Whittaker.
Antigone will be the first new production in the 2012 Travelex Season, which will continue in July with Nicholas Hytner’s Timon of Athens, starring Simon Russell Beale and presented as part of the World Shakespeare Festival, and will culminate in October with Bijan Sheibani’s production of Tirso de Molina’s Damned for Despair. The Travelex season opens in April when Nicholas Hytner’s production of John Hodge’s acclaimed play, Collaborators, transfers to the Olivier.
In July Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork’s highly acclaimed verbatim musical, London Road, will be revived by Rufus Norris in the Olivier Theatre. Marianne Elliott is also set to direct a stage version of Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, in an adaptation by Simon Stephens.
Initial plans have also been announced for 2013, when the National celebrates its 50th anniversary. Antony Sher, who is currently appearing in Nicholas Wright’s celebration of silent cinema, Travelling Light, is slated to star in a production of The Captain of Kopenick directed by Adrian Noble and in the spring Nicholas Hytner will direct Othello, with Adrian Lester in the title role and Rory Kinnear playing Iago.
For tickets and further details, visit the National Theatre website.