Highlights of the forthcoming productions at The National Theatre, announced today by Nicholas Hytner, include new plays by Alan Bennett, Stephen Beresford, Lisa D’Amour, James Graham and Lucy Prebble. There will be adaptations of Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Simon Stephens, and of The Count of Monte Cristo by Richard Bean. Enda Walsh’s Misterman receives its London premiere; classic revivals include Polly Findlay’s production of Sophocles’ Antigone, Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens directed by Nicholas Hytner, Bijan Sheibani’s staging of Damned for Despair by Tirso de Molina, and Nadia Fall’s production of Bernard Shaw’s The Doctor’s Dilemma.
A number of this summer’s repertoire highlights – The Last of the Haussmans, Timon of Athens and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – as well as a programme of activities for young people and families and new theatre commissions, will be part of the London 2012 Festival, a spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration running from 21 June until 9 September, bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK.
Between 2 June and 9 September, the National will stage National Theatre INSIDE OUT, supported by American Express. Activities normally conducted inside the Theatre will spill out onto the terraces and squares, with a packed festival programme of free activities entering into the spirit of this extraordinary summer. A specially designed riverfront café bar will invite passers-by into a setting evoking the backstage world, and a pop-up space on the terrace balcony will offer activities and performances for children and families. In Theatre Square, the annual Watch This Space programme will showcase the best of national and international outdoor performance, with new work from The Gandinis, Circus Space, Square Peg and Upswing; and, in a first for the National, two of its Studio Associate companies, non zero one and Made in China, have been invited to create site-specific work to be performed on and around the building.
The next three years will offer audiences in the UK and worldwide unprecedented access to the National’s work. Through youth participation, touring, transfer, overseas productions and broadcast, we expect our annual audience to exceed 3 million by 2014. War Horse will embark on a nine-month tour of UK cities in autumn 2013; a second tour of One Man, Two Guvnors will visit England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in autumn 2012. Connections will commission 30 new plays for 600 youth theatres nationwide over the next three years. Forthcoming National Theatre Live broadcasts to 700 screens, which have to date played to 600,000 people worldwide, will include an encore of Frankenstein, The Last of the Haussmans and Timon of Athens. Access to our work on and offstage is also provided through our free digital content; the NT’s iTunes U platform has achieved over one million views and downloads in its first six months.
Olivier Theatre
2012 marks the tenth Travelex Tickets season at The National Theatre; today, Travelex announce the renewal of their sponsorship for a further three years from 2013 – 2015. This remarkable partnership began in 2003, since when 1.2 million £12 & £10 tickets have been sold; the seasons have played to a total audience of 1.9 milllion people. This year, almost half the tickets for five plays in the Olivier Theatre will again be offered at just £12 (the rest will be £22 and £32).
