Donmar's KING LEAR To Be Broadcast by NT Live Feb 3 2011

As The Prince of Homburg opens at the Donmar, Michael Grandage, the company's Artistic Director announces a major expansion to the run of his forthcoming production of King Lear, which will see the company tour nationally, and will be broadcast to over 22 countries worldwide in collaboration with National Theatre Live.

The production will embark on an eight week national tour following performances at the Donmar. This increases the company's UK touring programme which in previous years has visited three English venues and sees the Donmar engage with more regional venues than ever before throughout England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

As the Donmar expands its digital and broadcast output to create a platform to enable the public greater access to the company's work, it will screen King Lear on 3rd February 2011 as part of National Theatre Live. Responding to the constantly evolving and exciting changes within the theatre community, the Donmar is proud to partner with the National Theatre and give a potentially vast international audience an opportunity to engage with its work.

The Donmar continues its education work with the schools matinee programme and a project which rolls out nationwide to complement the company's touring work.

Artistic Director Michael Grandage said today, "This initiative is born of a desire to share our work with as many people as possible. I believe Derek Jacobi's King Lear will be an event that deserves to be seen beyond the Donmar Warehouse and I'm delighted we are expanding our UK touring programme, as well as going out live to over 300 cinemas worldwide. It means a Donmar production featuring one of our finest Shakespearean actors will be available to more people than we could ever hold in our Covent Garden home.

"I am proud to be teaming up with the National Theatre to broadcast King Lear and excited by the opportunities that it will present to us. It is important for us create long term partnerships and shared goals in the coming years and the announcement to expand our digital output demonstrates the Donmar's commitment to the changing times that lie ahead."

CASTING UPDATE

The Donmar Warehouse presents King Lear By William Shakespeare

Cast includes: Pippa Bennett-Warner, Ron Cook, Michael Hadley, Derek Jacobi, Paul Jesson,

Gina McKee, Justine Mitchell

Director: Michael Grandage; Designer: Christopher Oram

Lighting Designer: Neil Austin; Composer and Sound Designer: Adam Cork

3 December 2010 - 5 February 2011

Press night: Tuesday 7 December

"Who is it that can tell me who I am?"

An ageing monarch. A kingdom divided. A child's love rejected. As Lear's world descends into chaos, all that he once believed is brought into question.

One of the greatest works in western literature, King Lear explores the very nature of human existence: love and duty, power and loss, good and evil.

Derek Jacobi and Michael Grandage renew their collaboration, having previously worked together on The Tempest, Don Carlos and Twelfth Night. Grandage's creative team - Christopher Oram, Neil Austin and Adam Cork are the Tony Award-winning team behind the company's recent Broadway smash hit Red.

Pippa Bennett-Warner makes her Donmar debut as Cordelia. Graduating from RADA this summer, her theatre credits include Crocodile (Riverside Studios and Sky Arts), Ruined (Almeida Theatre), Victory (Theatre Royal Bath), Caroline or Change (National Theatre) and The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre).

Ron Cook returns to the Donmar to play the Fool. He previously appeared in Hamlet (Donmar West End and Broadway), Twelfth Night (Donmar West End), Helpless, Juno and the Paycock and Glengarry Glen Ross. His many other theatre credits include The Seafarer, Howard Katz (National Theatre), Singer (Tricycle Theatre), Insignificance (Chichester Festival Theatre), Art (Wyndham's) and extensive work for the RSC. For television, his work includes Little Dorrit, PA's, The Diary of Anne Frank, Fantabulosa, Funland, He Knew He Was Right, The Other Boleyn Girl and The Lost Prince; and for film, Hot Fuzz, Confetti, Charlotte Gray, Chocolat, Quills, Topsy Turvy, Secrets and Lies, and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.

Michael Hadley returns to the Donmar, where he appeared in Piaf (also Vaudeville Theatre), Othello and The Vortex, to play the Earl of Kent. His other theatre credits include The Tempest (Oxford Stage Company), Heroes (Watermill Theatre), Coriolanus and The Canterbury Tales (RSC), The Seagull (Mercury Theatre Colchester), and Don Carlos (Sheffield Crucible and West End). His television credits include Churchill at War, Strange, Paradise Heights and Rough Justice; and for film, The Boat That Rocked, Unrelated, Three Blind Mice and An Unsuitable Job for a Woman.

Derek Jacobi returns to the Donmar to play King Lear. His work for the company includes his Olivier Award-winning performance as Malvolio in Michael Grandage's production of Twelfth Night (Donmar West End) and A Voyage Round My Father (also Wyndham's Theatre). Jacobi's other theatre work includes Don Carlos (Sheffield Crucible and Gieldgud Theatre), The Tempest (Sheffield Crucible and Old Vic) - both directed by Michael Grandage, and Hollow Crown (RSC). Jacobi is renowned for his role as Claudius in I Claudius. His recent television credits include Margot, Endgame, The Old Curiosity Shop, Pinochet in Suburbia, The Long Firm, Mr Ambassador, Inquisition, The Gathering Storm, The Jury and Frasier. For film, his work includes Nanny McPhee, Gosford Park and Gladiator.

Paul Jesson plays the Earl of Gloucester. He previously appeared in Mary Stuart (Donmar), Sam Mendes' production of Twelfth Night (also BAM) for the Donmar. His other recent theatre credits include Cock, The Seagull (Royal Court), The Bridge Project (Old Vic, BAM and worldwide tour), Awake and Sing (Almeida Theatre), Troilus and Cressida (RSC) and The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare's Globe). His television work includes The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, Slave Trader, Rome, Danielle Cable Eyewitness and The Glass; and for film, Coriolanus, Vera Drake and All or Nothing.

Gina McKee plays Goneril. She previously appeared at the Donmar in Ivanov (Donmar West End) and Old Times. Her other stage work includes The Lover & The Collection (Comedy Theatre), The Exonerated (Riverside Studios) and Aristocrats (National Theatre). For television her work includes The Silence, The Street, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Street, Aftermath, The Lost Prince, The Forsyte Saga, The Passion and Our Friends in the North (BAFTA Award for Best Actress & Broadcasting Press Guild Award); and for film, Dive, In the Loop, And When Did You Last See Your Father?, Atonement, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Wonderland, Notting Hill and The Croupier.

Justine Mitchell plays Regan. Her theatre work includes The White Guard, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Philistines, Coram Boy (National Theatre), Uncle Vanya (Young Vic), Nocturnal, Hedda Gabler (The Gate), The Stone (Royal Court), Three Sisters (Abbey Theatre, Dublin) and Twelfth Night (RSC). For television, her credits include Your Bad Self, Sleep With Me and Afterlife; and for film, I Want Candy, A c*ckand Bull Story, Imagine Me and You, Inside I'm Dancing and The Honeymooners.

Donmar Artistic Director Michael Grandage directs. Previous work for the Donmar includes Red (also Broadway - Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Director of a Play), The Chalk Garden (Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards for Best Director), Othello (Evening Standard Award for Best Director), John Gabriel Borkman, Don Juan in Soho, Frost/Nixon (also West End and Broadway), The Cut, The Wild Duck (Critics' Circle Award for Best Director), Guys and Dolls (Donmar in the West End - Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production), Grand Hotel (Evening Standard Award for Best Director, Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production), Henry IV, After Miss Julie, Caligula (Olivier Award for Best Director) and The Vortex. As part of the Donmar in the West End season Grandage directed Ivanov - Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards for Best Director, Twelfth Night, Madame de Sade and Hamlet (also Kronborg Castle and Broadway). Other West End work includes Evita. He was the Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres 1999 - 2005, where his many productions included Don Carlos (Evening Standard Award for Best Director).

Designed by Christopher Oram, with lighting by Neil Austin and the composer and sound designer is Adam Cork.

INTERNATIONAL SCREENING OF KING LEAR

King Lear will broadcast worldwide to over 22 countries on 3 February 2011. It will be part of National Theatre Live's second season which launches this Autumn. National Theatre Live is the National Theatre's initiative to broadcast live performances to cinemas worldwide. The first season, which began in June 2009, was seen by 150,000 people on 320 screens in 22 countries.

The second season of National Theatre Live includes, Shakespeare's Hamlet, directed by Nicholas Hytner - 9 December; the musical FELA! - 13 January 2011; Danny Boyle's production of Frankenstein - 17 March; and later in 2011, a new production of The Cherry Orchard, directed by Howard Davies, with Zoë Wanamaker as Madame Ranevskaya - all at the National Theatre. From Theatre Royal Plymouth, National Theatre Live's other collaboration this season will see Complicite's A Disappearing Number broadcast on 14 October.

National Theatre Live events are distributed outside the U.K. through New York-based BY Experience, Inc, the pioneer of global live "alternative content" digital cinema events.
For more information visit www.byexperience.net

For a full list of participating locations and ticket information visit www.ntlive.com

DONMAR ON TOUR - UK

Following its performances at the Donmar Warehouse, King Lear will embark on an eight week tour of the UK to Venue Cymru, Llandudno (21 - 26 February), Belfast Opera House (28 February - 5 March), Glasgow Theatre Royal (7 - 12 March), Milton Keynes Theatre (14 - 19 March), The Lowry, Salford (21 - 26 March), Richmond Theatre (28 March - 2 April), Bath Theatre Royal (4 - 9 April) and Hall for Cornwall (11 - 16 April).

The Donmar began a national touring programme seven years ago under Artistic Director Michael Grandage. The company's first tour was Pirandello's Henry IV, in a new version by Tom Stoppard. The production won the Manchester Evening News Awards for Best Touring Production and Best Actor for Ian McDiarmid. The tours in the following two years repeated this double success with the world première of Neil LaBute's This Is How It Goes - the Best Actor Award going to Ben Chaplin; and the world première of Mark Ravenhill's The Cut - Ian McKellen was the recipient of the Best Actor Award. This was followed by Charlotte Westenra's production of Manuel Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman with Rupert Evans and Will Keen, and then Sean Holmes' critically acclaimed production of Arthur Miller's The Man Who Had All the Luck. It earned the Best Actor and Best Actress Awards at the Manchester Evening News Awards for Andrew Buchan and Michelle Terry respectively. Last year the company toured Ian McDiarmid's adaptation of Andrew O'Hagan's novel Be Near Me across both England and Scotland in their first ever co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland; and this year, the British première of Lanford Wilson's Serenading Louie.

Donmar Warehouse LISTINGS
Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9LX
www.donmarwarehouse.com
Box Office: 0844 871 7624 (Booking fee of £2.50 per transaction)
Personal callers Mon-Sat 10am-curtain up (No booking fee)
Telephone Mon-Sat 9am-10pm, Sun 10am-8pm

Seat Prices:
Previews
Stalls £24, £20; Circle £20, £16, £13
Post press night
Monday 7.30pm & Thursday 2.30pm
Stalls £20, Circle £15
Tuesday -Thursday 7.30pm & Saturday 2.30pm
Stalls £26, £22; Circle £22, £18, £15
Friday & Saturday 7.30pm
Stalls £29, £24; Circle £24, £20, £15

DONMAR ON TOUR - on sale at venues from 10am on 20 September. Tickets from £10