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Further Dates & Casting Confirmed for NT Autumn Rep

The National Theatre has this morning (2 September 2011) confirmed further dates and casting for its autumn rep season through to January 2012.

The previously announced Collaborators, in which Nicholas Hytner directs Alex Jennings and Simon Russell Beale, will open in the NT Cottesloe on 1 November (previews from 25 October).

The pair of NT associates will be joined in the cast by Mark Addy, Sarah Annis, Marcus Cunningham, Jacqueline Defferary, Patrick Godfrey, Michael Jenn, Jess Murphy, William Postlethwaite, Pierce Reid, Nick Sampson, Maggie Service and Perri Snowdon.

A new play by Shallow Grave, Trainspotting and The Beach screenwriter John Hodge, Collaborators is inspired by historical fact and set in Moscow in 1938. Mikhail Bulgakov, living among dissidents, stalked by secret police, he’s offered a poisoned chalice: a commission to write a play about Stalin to celebrate his sixtieth birthday.

The production will be designed by Bob Crowley, with lighting by Jon Clark, music by George Fenton and sound by Paul Arditti; with thanks to Simon Sebag Montefiore.

Abbey Theatre co-production Juno and the Paycock will open in the NT Lyttelton on 16 November (previews from 11 November) with a cast led by Sinead Cusack as Juno and Ciaran Hinds as Jack Boyle.

Sean O'Casey’s play, which is directed by Howard Davies, is a devastating portrait of wasted potential in a Dublin torn apart by the chaos of the Irish War of Independence, 1922.

Sinead Cusack returns to the National, for the first time since 1998 when she won both Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Awards for her role in Sebastian Barry’s Our Lady of Sligo. Ciaran Hinds' credits at the National include Burnt by the Sun, Closer and Machinal as well as Richard III, Troilus and Cressida, Edward II and Two Shakespearean Actors for the RSC.

They are joined in the cast by Cornelius Clarke, Risteard Cooper, Clare Dunne, Kieran Gough, Luke Hayden, Dermot Kerrigan, Nick Lee, Gillian McCarthy, Bernadette McKenna, Brian Martin, ]Janet Moran, Kevin Murphy, Ronan Raftery, Sophie Robinson, Eoin Slattery and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor.

As previously reported, Lenny Henry will make his National Theatre debut in Dominic Cooke's NT Olivier production of The Comedy of Errors which opens on 29 November (previews from 22 November) as the National Theatre's Christmas production.

The production will be Cooke’s first new Shakespeare since taking over at the Royal Court in 2007 and also marks his National directing debut. The artistic director of the Royal Court, Cooke was an associate director at the Royal Shakespeare Company for several years.

The show's full cast have been announced as Claudie Blakley (Adriana), Clare Cathcart, Chris Jarman (Antipholus of Ephesus), Lucian Msamati (Dromio of Syracuse), Joseph Mydell (Aegeon), Pamela Nomvete, Daniel Poyser (Dromio of Ephesus), Amit Shah and Michelle Terry (Luciana).

It will be designed by Bunny Christie, with lighting by Paule Constable, music by Gary Yershon, movement by Ann Yee, sound by Christopher Shutt and fight direction by Kate Waters.

Productions visiting the National Theatre this autumn include 1927 Production's The Animals and Children took the the Streets which will play 15 performances in the NT Cottesloe between 7 December and 3 January 2012.

Co-commissioned by the BAC, Malthouse Theatre Melbourne and The Showroom at the University of Chichester, 1927 Production's second show comes to the National following outings at the BAC, Latitude Festival and as part of the British Council Showcase season at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.

Combining live music, performance and storytelling with stunning film and animation, The Animals and Children took the the Streets is set in the dystopian Bayou, where curtain-twitchers and peeping-toms live side by side, and the wolf is always at the door. Written and directed by Suzanne Andrade, with film, animation and design by Paul Barritt the production is produced by Joanna Crowley, with music by Lillian Henley and costume by Sarah Munro and Esme Appleton.

The schedule has also been confirmed for the broadcast to cinemas of two autumn rep productions. NT Live will broadcast Collaborators on 1 December 2011, The Comedy of Errors on 1 March 2012.

- by Andrew Girvan

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