Hampstead Theatre announces three new plays in next season

Hampstead Theatre has announced its new season, with two world premieres and a UK premiere running over the spring and summer.

Lisa Spirling, artistic director of Theatre503, will direct American playwright Rajiv Joseph's play Describe the Night from 30 April to 9 June. The piece is a comic fantasia on Russian themes which explores conspiracy theories, truth and lies and looks over 90 years of Soviet and post-Soviet history. Joseph's play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a 2010 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and his play Guards at the Taj was recently staged at the Bush.

Elsewhere in the season Laurie Sansom will stage the world premiere of Jemma Kennedy's Genesis Inc. It focuses on the privatisation of human reproduction and on Serena and Jeff, who have one last chance for kids, Bridget who has put her future on ice in favour of a career and Miles who is only concerned with his salary. The piece runs from 22 June to 28 July. Kennedy's previous work includes Second Person Narrative and The Gift.

In Hampstead Theatre's Downstairs space Fiona Doyle's new drama The Strange Death of John Doe will be directed by Edward Hall. The piece is a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and is set in London in the present day where an unidentified man is found with head injuries, face down in a suburban street. Doyle's previous work includes Deluge and Coolatully. The play runs from 25 May to 30 June.

Hall said of the season: "Next year will mark Hampstead Theatre's 60th birthday. Since 1959, Hampstead has always committed itself to discovering and presenting a variety of top quality new plays by established, emerging or debut writers.So, as we approach a major milestone next year, I'm pleased to say that Hampstead's in a very exciting place, filled with talented, bold and ambitious creatives delivering world-class entertainment to a vibrant and captivated audience. Long may it continue."