THE NATIONAL THEATRE TO RESUME PERFORMANCES WITH DEATH OF ENGLAND: DELROY, A NEW PLAY BY CLINT DYER AND ROY WILLIAMS, PERFORMED BY GILES TERERA 14 August, 2020
Today the National Theatre announces its commitment to begin creating new work again, with plans to resume socially-distanced live performances in the Olivier Theatre in late October. A new one-person play, DEATH OF ENGLAND: DELROY, by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams, will be directed by Dyer, and performed by Giles Terera. This follows on from Dyer and Williams’ play Death of England, which Dyer also directed, and which was performed by Rafe Spall to critical acclaim in the Dorfman Theatre, closing only weeks before lockdown.
The production team, together with Giles Terera, have been back at the National Theatre this week working on the play: the first artists to return to work in the building since it closed. The new play was commissioned by the NT’s New Work Department at the start of lockdown and written over the subsequent five months. It explores a different side of the Death of England story as it focuses on the character of Delroy, the best friend of Michael, the protagonist of the first piece.
London, 2020. Delroy is arrested on his way to the hospital. Filled with anger and grief, he recalls the moments and relationships that gave him hope before his life was irrevocably changed. This new work explores a Black working-class man searching for truth and confronting his relationship with Great Britain.
Government have now confirmed that indoor, socially-distanced performances can resume from this Saturday. Death of England: Delroy will begin performances in late October. Tickets will go on sale in September, when full details of the performance schedule, ticketing, and safety measures for audiences will also be available.
Speaking about the play Clint Dyer and Roy Williams said: “There’s a moment in Death of England at his father’s funeral where Michael tells Delroy, ‘you may act like us and talk like us, but you will never be one of us’. In telling Delroy’s story, we hope to take audiences on an illuminating journey into the Black British psyche and realities of a ‘tolerant’ England in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.”
Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre said: “This week Death of England: Delroy will have its first workshop as we finally, carefully open the doors of the theatre to artists and put in place plans to start live performance again this Autumn. Clint Dyer and Roy Williams have delivered another explosive piece of work; set during lockdown and charting its own fearless and provocative course through the same subjects as its prequel, and a very English reflection of the Black Lives Matter movement. It is so important for us to be welcoming artists back into the building again, and planning for doing the same for our much-missed audiences. The moment the incomparable Giles Terera steps out on the Olivier stage at that first performance will be an incredible one, and I’m thrilled to be reopening our theatre with such an important and timely piece of work.”
Set and costume designers are Sadeysa Greenaway-Bailey and ULTZ, with lighting design by Jackie Shemesh, sound design by Pete Malkin and Ben Grant.
ENDS
For more information and images contact Ruth Greenwood: [email protected]
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Notes to Editors
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Biographies
Giles Terera’s theatre credits include Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Hamlet, Death & The Kings Horseman, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Troilus and Cressida, Candide, Honk! And Darker Face of the Earth at the NT; Romersholm at the Duke of York’s Theatre; Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre (Winner, Best Actor in a Muscial 2018 Olivier Awards); The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui at the Donmar Warehouse; King John and The Merchant of Venice at the Globe Theatre and on tour; Pure Imagination at the St James Theatre; The Book of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre; The Tempest at the Theatre Royal Haymarket; Don’t You Leave Me Here at the West Yorkshire Playhouse; Playboy of the Western World at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; Avenue Q at the Noël Coward Theatre; The Rat Pack at The Strand Theatre; Jailhouse Rock at The Piccadilly Theatre and Theatre Royal Plymouth; 125th Street at the Shaftesbury Theatre; Rent at the Prince of Wales Theatre; You Don’t Kiss at Stratford Circus; Up on the Roof at the Chichester Festival Theatre; The Tempest at the RSC; Six Degrees of Separation at the Sheffield Crucible; and Generations of the Dead at the Young Vic. Film and television appearances include Maxx, Flack, The Current War, London Boulevard, Horrible Histories and Doctors.
Clint Dyer’s theatre credits include (as an actor) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and (as writer and director) Death of England at the NT. Other theatre as an actor The Kid stays in the picture at Royal Court, The Royale, Perseverance Drive and A Carpet, A Pony and A Monkey at The Bush; Sus at the Young Vic; Michael X for Eclipse; Big White Fog at the Almeida. Other theatre as director includes The Big Life at the Apollo-West End and Stratford East; Kingston 14 at Stratford East; The Westbridge at the Royal Court; and Lady MacWata (also co-deviser) at Voila Theatre Festival. As writer-director other theatre includes Sylvia Plath for Open Court at the Royal Court. As writer co-director other theatre includes: The Happy Tragedy of Being Woke for Complicité. As writer and actor other theatre includes: The Big Idea – The New Order at the Royal Court. As writer TV and film includes: Kev, part of Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle, and Dim Sum (part of ‘Europeans’). As an actor Television includes: Timewasters, Black Mirror, Death in Paradise, Fallout, Trail and Retribution, Dalziel & Pascoe, Inspector Linley, The Commander, Lock Stock, Thief Takers and Prime Suspect. As actor film includes Sus, Cherps (BFM Best Actor Award nomination), The Trail, Mr Inbetween, Everybody Loves Sunshine, Love Me Still, Creation Stories, Made in Italy, Acts of Vengeance, The Club, Montana, Unknown, Sahara, Agora and Mr Bean 2.
Roy Williams’ plays include: Death of England and Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads for the NT and Baby Girl for NT Connections; Sucker Punch, Clubland, Lift Off and Fallout for the Royal Court; The Firm and Local Boy for Hampstead Theatre; Soul: The Untold Story of Marvin Gaye for the Royal and Derngate and Hackney Empire; Antigone for Pilot Theatre/UK Tour; Wildefire for Hampstead Theatre; Advice for the Young at Heart for Theatre Centre; an adaptation of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner for Pilot Theatre / UK Tour; Kingston ’14 and The No-Boys Cricket Club for Theatre Royal Stratford East; Category B for Tricycle Theatre Angel House for Eclipse Theatre, UK Tour; Days of Significance for the RSC; Joe Guy for Tiata Fahodzi; There’s Only One Wayne Matthews for Polka Theatre; Absolute Beginners for Lyric Hammersmith; Little Sweet Thing for Nottingham Playhouse; The Gift for Birmingham Rep/Tricycle Theatre; Souls for Theatre Centre; Starstruck for Tricycle; and Josie’s Boy for Red Ladder Theatre Co. He also contributed to the Royal Court's Peckham The Soap Opera. His work for television includes Let It Snow, Fallout, Offside, and Babyfather. For film he has co-written Fast Girls. Roy was the joint-winner of The George Devine Award in 200 and in 2001 he was awarded the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. He was awarded the OBE for Services to Drama in the 2008 Birthday Honours List and was made a fellow of The Royal Society of Literature in 2018.