20 December 2016

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2017 AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE

Tamsin Greig leads the cast in Simon Godwin’s Twelfth Night

Ugly Lies the Bone by Lindsey Ferrentino makes its European premiere

Mosquitoes by Lucy Kirkwood has its world premiere. Rufus Norris directs a cast including Olivia Colman

Marianne Elliott directs Tony Kushner’s , with

Sally Cookson’s adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre begins a tour of the UK in April

Twelfth Night previews from 15 February in the Olivier Theatre, press night 22 February. Simon Godwin directs a joyous new production of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. Tamsin Greig is a transformed Malvolia, alongside a cast including; Oliver Chris, Daniel Ezra, Phoebe Fox, Tamara Lawrance, Doon Mackichan and Daniel Rigby.

Twelfth Night will be broadcast to cinemas worldwide by NT Live on 6 April.

----- Ugly Lies the Bone an award-winning play by Lindsey Ferrentino has its European premiere in the Lyttelton Theatre with previews from 22 February, press night 1 March. After three tours in Afghanistan and months in a severe burns unit, Jess (Kate Fleetwood) finally returns to Florida. In a small town on the Space Coast, Jess must confront her scars, and a home that may have changed even more than her. Experimenting with pioneering virtual reality therapy, she builds a breath-taking new world where she can escape her pain. This honest and funny new drama is directed by Indhu Rubasingham,

----- In the days after the EU referendum, the National Theatre began a nationwide listening project. A team of interviewers spoke to people around the country – from Leicester to Derry/Londonderry and Merthyr Tydfil to – to hear their views of the country and town they live in, their lives, their future, and the referendum.

Using exact words taken from the interviews, My Country; a work in progress puts those conversations centre stage. Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre, collaborates with Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate, to create this new production which plays in the Dorfman Theatre from 28 February– 22 March prior to a tour of the UK and Holland from 27 March – 1 July. ----- Mosquitoes by Lucy Kirkwood will have its world premiere in the Dorfman Theatre in July. Rufus Norris will direct this new play about families and particle physics, with a cast that includes Olivia Colman. ----- In May, Marianne Elliott will direct Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, with Andrew Garfield returning to the National as Prior Walter. Previews begin on 11 April, with Press Night on 4 May. The company also includes Susan Brown, Nathan Lane, James McArdle, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Denise Gough and Russell Tovey.

Angels in America will be broadcast to cinemas worldwide by NT Live later in 2017 (dates tbc) ----- Sally Cookson’s energetic and imaginative adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s masterpiece Jane Eyre, a co-production between the National Theatre and Bristol Old Vic, begins a tour of the UK at The Lowry in Salford on 8 April, with its press night on 12 April at 7.30pm, before continuing to Sheffield, Aylesbury, Plymouth, Southampton, Edinburgh, York, Woking, Glasgow, Richmond, Canterbury, Cardiff, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Brighton, Leeds, Aberdeen and Birmingham.

ENDS

For images: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gaxm7dk6f1ed3ad/AAACWYR-ZSGZ6n4reHMYiO87a?dl=0

Press contact: [email protected]

Notes to Editors

The National Theatre is dedicated to making the very best theatre and sharing it with as many people as possible. We produce productions on the South Bank in each year, ranging from re-imagined classics to modern masterpieces and new work by contemporary writers and theatre-makers. The National’s work is seen on tour throughout the UK, in London’s West End, internationally (including on Broadway) and in collaborations and co- productions with theatres across the country.

Across 2015-2016, the NT staged 34 productions and gave 3,134 performances in the UK and internationally. The NT’s award-winning programme had a UK audience of 2.5 million, 700,000 of which were NT Live audiences.

The Clore Learning Centre at the NT is committed to providing programmes for schools, young people, families, community groups and adult learners, including the nationwide youth theatre festival Connections and playwriting competition New Views. In 2015-2016, we engaged with over 181,000 participants through the NT Learning events programme. Further, over 2,200 secondary schools have signed up to the free streaming service, On Demand in Schools since its launch in September 2015. nationaltheatre.org.uk @nationaltheatre @NT_PressOffice