U.K.'s National Theatre Will Revive Alan Ayckbourn's A Small Family Business; More Plays Announced for Upcoming Season

Olivier Award nominee Nigel Lindsay will star in a revival of Alan Ayckbourn's A Small Family Business, directed by Adam Penford, at London's National Theatre. The National's upcoming season will also include a revival of Sean O’Casey's The Silver Tassie, A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney and more.

Playing in the Olivier Theatre, Lindsay will star as Jack McCracken in Ayckbourn’s exposure of entrepreneurial greed that first premiered at the venue in 1987. Written during the height of Thatcherism, A Small Family Business tells the story of Jack's journey from a man of principle to rampant self-interest and corruption with the discovery his extended family is no more than a group of thieves and adulterers. The play is set to begin performances April 1, with an official opening night scheduled for April 8.

O’Casey’s rarely performed The Silver Tassie, directed by Olivier Award winner Howard Davies, will begin previews on April 15 at the Lyttelton Theatre. Set in Ireland during World War One, the play centers on a dashing football player (Ronan Raftery) who swaps his kit for a soldier's uniform and heads for the trenches. Months later, Harry Heegan returns, a cripple at the football club party. Everyone but the shattered war veterans dances and forgets. Opening night of The Silver Tassie is scheduled for April 23.

Also, Delaney’s iconic A Taste of Honey, directed by Bijan Sheibani, will open at the Lyttleton Theatre on February 18 and play in repertory until May 11. Written by Delaney when she was 19-years-old, A Taste of Honey is the story of a working-class, adolescent girl and her relationships with the black sailor who gets her pregnant, the homosexual art student who moves into her apartment, her fun-loving, saloon-frequenting mother and Peter, her mother’s new husband.

In addition, The Shed will house Michaela Coel's one-woman show Chewing Gum Dreams, directed by Nadia Fall, from March 17 through April 5, and the return of Fall's acclaimed play Home from March 26 through April 30.