Tori Amos Musical & Conor McPherson Play Among the National Theatre’s 2011 Offerings

Artistic director Nicholas Hytner has announced additional plans for the National Theatre’s 2011 season. In addition to the previously announced Frankenstein, Rocket to the Moon and The Holy Rosenbergs, offerings at the National's three London theaters will include a new musical by Tori Amos and Sam Adamson, new plays by John Hodge, Mike Leigh and Conor McPherson and revivals of classic plays by Arnold Wesker and Sean O’Casey.

The season at the Olivier Theatre will begin on May 17 with Howard Davies’ production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, starring Zoë Wanamaker and Conleth Hill. It will be followed by a new version of Ibsen’s Emperor And Galilean by Ben Power, which will open June 15 directed by Jonathan Kent. Andrew Scott plays Julian and the cast also includes James McArdle, Jamie Ballard, John Heffernan, Ian McDiarmid, Genevieve O’Reilly and Prasanna Puwanarajah. Next up, Thea Sharrock will direct a to-be-determined September production, and then a new production of Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play The Kitchen will bow in October, directed by Bijan Sheibani. In November, Royal Court artistic director Dominic Cooke will make his National Theatre debut with Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors.

Kicking off productions in the Lyttelton Theatre will be the Nicholas Hytner-helmed One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean and starring James Corden, which will open in May. It will be followed by A Woman Killed With Kindness by Thomas Heywood will be directed by Katie Mitchell, opening in July. In September, Howard Davies will direct Sean O’Casey’s Juno and The Paycock, with Sinead Cusack as Juno and Ciaran Hinds as Captain Boyle, and a new as-yet-untitled play written and directed by Conor McPherson and set in 19th century Ireland will bow in October.

In the Cottesloe Theatre, Rufus Norris will direct a documentary musical, London Road, with book and lyrics by Alecky Blythe, and music and lyrics by Adam Cork, opening on April 14. The cast includes Rosalie Craig, Kate Fleetwood, Nick Holder, Claire Moore, Michael Shaeffer and Paul Thornley. Mike Leigh will return to the National with a new play opening in September; the cast will include Ruby Bentall and Lesley Manville. A new play by John Hodge will open in October, directed by Nicholas Hytner. The play centers on an imaginary encounter between Joseph Stalin and the playwright Mikhail Bulgakov; Alex Jennings will play Bulgakov and Simon Russell Beale will play Stalin.

Looking further ahead, a production of The Way of the World by William Congreve will open in the Olivier in January 2012, and a new musical with music and lyrics by Tori Amos and book and additional lyrics by Samuel Adamson, suggested by a story by George MacDonald, will be directed by Marianne Elliott, opening in April 2012.