Theatre News

National Theatre announces Jessie Buckley and Josh O'Connor in Romeo and Juliet for 2020 programme

New shows and casting have been revealed for the venue’s 2020 season

Jessie Buckley and Josh O'Connor
Jessie Buckley and Josh O'Connor
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

New shows and information have been announced for the National Theatre's 2020 programme.

Josh O'Connor (The Crown) and Jessie Buckley (Judy) will star in a new production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Simon Godwin. The pair will be joined by Fisayo Akinade as Mercutio in the production, which runs in the Olivier in August 2020.

Set and costume design is by Soutra Gilmour, lighting design by Lucy Carter, composition by Michael Bruce and sound design by Christopher Shutt.

Alanna Mitchell's Sea Sick, following its run at the Edinburgh Fringe and on tour, will be presented at the Dorfman Theatre from 22 April to 7 May.

Writer Jude Christian and director TInuke Craig will team up to present a new reimagining of Hamlet, which runs in the Dorfman Theatre from 30 March to 9 April. It has set and costume design by Frankie Bradshaw, lighting design by Paul Knott, music by Sarah Taylor Ellis, sound design by Clark Henry-Brown and movement direction by Morgan Runacre-Temple.

Gary Owen's new play Romeo and Julie will be co-produced with the Sherman Theatre, with Callum Scott Howells and Rosie Sheehy as the lead pair. The piece will open at The Lowry, Salford (5 to 10 June), before touring to Cast, Doncaster (16 to 20 June) Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch (23 to 27 June) and Theatre Royal, Wakefield (30 June to 4 July). It will then play in the Dorfman from 14 July to 29 August, and at the Sherman Theatre from 16 September to 3 October.

Set and costume design is by Hayley Grindle, lighting design by Jack Knowles, sound design by Gregory Clarke and puppetry design and direction by Finn Caldwell.

New information has also been announced for existing productions. Richard Bean and Oliver Chris' new comedy Jack Absolute Flies Again will star Laurie Davidson, Caroline Quentin, Richard Fleeshman and Natalie Simpson, joined by James Corrigan, Jordan Metcalfe and Helena Wilson. The piece has direction by Thea Sharrock.

Daneka Etchells, Jenny Galloway, Haydn Gwynne, Zainab Hasan, June Watson, Laurence Ubong Williams, Shaofan Wilson and Hara Yannas will join the cast of The Welkin, alongside a previously announced line-up including Maxine Peake.

Those appearing alongside Lesley Manville and Hugo Weaving in Tony Kushner's version of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Visit or The Old Lady Comes to Call have also been announced – Troy Alexander, Charlotte Asprey, Jason Barnett, Sam Cox, Bethan Cullinane, Paul Dodds, Richard Durden, Ian Drysdale, Michael Elcock, Paul Gladwin, Garrick Hagon, Sara Kestelman, Simon Markey, Louis Martin, Kevin Mathurin, Joseph Mydell, Stuart Nunn, Simon Startin, Tony Turner, Douglas Walker, Flo Wilson and Nicholas Woodeson join the show, which runs from from 31 January in the Olivier.

Chris Anderson, Bryan Dick, Francesca Mills, Wanda Opalinska, Lucy Briers, Crystal Condie and Kevin Hely will appear alongside Francesca Martinez in her debut play All of Us.

Michele Austin, Peter Bray, Gillian Dean, David Hargreaves, Shaniqua Okwok and Eliot Salt also join the previously announced Nancy Carroll, Ben Daniels, Amy Forrest and Edward Judge in Moira Buffini's Manor in the Lyttelton.

NT Live screenings have been announced for Cyrano de Bergerac starring James McAvoy, Lucy Kirkwood's The Welkin and Jack Absolute Flies Again.