Casting and Partial Season Announced for London's National Theatre

Casting and a partial show schedule has been announced for the National Theatre’s upcoming season, which includes previously announced presentations of Tony Award nominated hit Fela! and Hamlet. The season will also include Handspring Puppet Company and Neil Bartlett’s Or You Could Kiss Me, the premiere of JT Rogers’ Blood and Gifts and the revival of Ena Lamont Stewart’s Men Should Weep. Exact dates for each production will be announced shortly.

On July 14, Alan Bennett’s hit comedy The Habit of Art returns to the National’s Lyttelton Theatre. Directed by Nicholas Hytner, the show, about a miscast group of actors presenting a play about poet W.H. Auden’s sexual dalliances, previously played an acclaimed run at the Lyttelton in fall 2009. The new cast features Desmond Barrit as WH Auden, Malcolm Sinclair as Benjamin Britten and Selina Cadell as Kay, as well as Tom Attwood, Simon Bubb, Danny Burns, Martin Chamberlain, Philip Childs, Matthew Cottle, Barbara Kirby, Joss Littler, Luke Norris, Leighton Pugh, Matthew Shilling and Aaron Wetheridge.

The season continues at The Lyttelton in September with Blood and Gifts, directed by Howard Davies. A sprawling political thriller set in 1981, the production stars Lloyd Owen, Philip Arditti, Danny Ashok, Nick Barber, Kammy Darweish, Ian Drysdale, Robert Gilbert, Mark Healy, Adam James, Simon Kunz, Gerald Kyd, Katie Lightfoot, Matthew Marsh, Jessica Regan and Nabil Stuart.

Or You Could Kiss Me, directed by author Bartlett, begins performances at The National’s Cottesloe Theatre on September 28 in preparation for its October 5 opening. Set in the winter of 2036 in an apartment in South Africa, the play tells the story of two old men searching for a way to say goodbye after a lifetime spent as friends. The cast features Adjoa Andoh, Finn Caldwell, Basil Jones, Adrian Kohler, Craig Leo, Tommy Luther and Mervyn Millar.

As previously announced, a Nicholas Hytner-helmed Hamlet will open at The Olivier Theatre on October 7, with previews beginning September 30. The show, starring Rory Kinnear in the title role, features David Calder as Polonius, Clare Higgins as Gertrude, James Laurenson as the Ghost and Player King, Patrick Malahide as Claudius and Ruth Negga as Ophelia. Also in the cast are Matthew Barker, Jake Fairbrother, Ferdinand Kingsley, Alex Lanipekun, James Pearse, Saskia Portway, Victor Power, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Nick Sampson, Michael Sheldon, Leo Staar, Zara Tempest-Walters, Giles Terera and Ellie Turner.

Hamlet will play in repertory with the Broadway transfer of Fela!, which opens on November 16. Tony-nominated star Sahr Ngaujah will reprises his role as the show’s namesake, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. He is joined by a cast featuring Paulette Ivory as love interest Sandra and Melanie Marshall as mother Funmilayo, and an ensemble featuring Lydie Alberto, Cindy Belliot, Nandi Bhebhe, Ricardo Coke Thomas, Scarlette Douglas, Jacqui Dubois, Poundo Gomis, Jazmine Jarret Thorpe, Aisha Jawando, Wanjiru Kamuyu, Nyron Levy, Ira Mandela Siobhan, Shelley-Ann Maxwell, Tamara McKoy Patterson, Catia Moto da Cruz, Pamela Okoroafor, Jermaine Rowe and Craig Stein.

Both Fela! and Hamlet will be broadcast to theaters worldwide as part of the company’s National Theatre Live initiative.

Finally, Men Should Weep, directed by Josie Rourke, begins performances on October 18 in the Lyttelton Theatre, prior to its opening on October 26. A revival of the 1947 classic, the play tells the story of the impoverished Morrison family, which finds both hope and a moral dilemma in the success of their wayward daughter. The complete cast, which will be announced shortly, stars Karen Dunbar and Sharon Small.