The Natonal Theatre’s presentation of Nicolas Kent’s All the President's Men? will star Allan Corduner, Tony nominee Sinéad Cusack, Siân Phillips, Peter Davison, Daniel Betts, Nathan Osgood, James Woolley, Sarah Lam, Phil Davis, Demetri Goritsas, Matthew Marsh, David Calder, Simon Chandler, Joseph Balderrama, Michael Landes and Tim Woodward.
As previously announced, Kent directs his edited version of scenes from the US Senate’s 2017 confirmation hearings for President Donald Trump’s cabinet. The reading will play the National’s Vaudeville Theatre on April 24 at 7:30pm and will be presented by the Public Theater at New York’s Town Hall on May 11 at 8:00pm. Casting for the New York mounting will be announced at a later date.
The evening is described as follows: In January, one week before the president’s inauguration a fierce fight erupted in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats over the confirmation of the key figures for President Trump’s cabinet. These four powerful men lead the Trump administration’s policy on Russia, the Middle East, Iran and North Korea, on human rights worldwide, on the Paris Climate control agreement, as well as on the civil rights and the health of millions of Americans. They are: Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of Exxon/Mobil, nominee for Secretary of State responsible for America’s foreign policy; Jeff Sessions, a leading campaigner for the President and now his chief law officer; Dr Tom Price, a strident critic of Obamacare and nominee for Health Secretary; and Scott Pruitt, a climate change sceptic nominated as Director of the Environmental Protection Agency.
In front of four separate Senate committees, the nominees were subjected to tough and relentless cross-examination. They were questioned forensically about their ethics, beliefs and political philosophies. Each of them had to fend off accusations ranging from corruption to deceit or racism. These gripping and dramatic verbatim Senate sessions probed their fitness for office, and give us insight into the future policies and direction of a Trump presidency.