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Harold Pinter season in the West End: Martin Freeman, Tamsin Greig and Danny Dyer lead casting

The Jamie Lloyd Company will perform all of Pinter’s one-act plays in a single season

Alex Wood

Alex Wood

Ben Hewis

Ben Hewis

| London | London's West End |

10 May 2018

Jamie Lloyd
Jamie Lloyd
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

The Jamie Lloyd Company will present a complete collection of Harold Pinter's one-act plays in the West End later this year.

The co-productions with Ambassador Theatre Group, Benjamin Lowy Productions, Gavin Kalin Productions and Glass Half Full Productions, will celebrate the famous British writer on the 10th anniversary of his death. The season will run from 6 September 2018 and sees all of Pinter's 20 one-act plays performed in seven different shows, with seven different casts. From Pinter's first play to some of his later, rarer work, the season will be spread out over a period of six months. All shows are now on sale.

Cast across the season will be actors including Tamsin Greig, David Suchet, Martin Freeman, Danny Dyer, Jane Horrocks and Celia Imrie. Jamie Lloyd will be directing a number of the plays alongside directors Lia Williams, Patrick Marber , Ed Stambollouian and Lyndsey Turner.

On the announcement, Lloyd said: "This season is an extraordinary opportunity to celebrate the legacy of an icon. Harold Pinter revolutionised international theatre and the political force of his words feels more vital than ever.

"On the tenth anniversary of Harold Pinter's death, it feels very important to acknowledge his impact on our cultural and political lives. I am particularly excited to be introducing a huge body of Harold's work – by turns dangerous, weird, riotously funny, beautifully lyrical and explosively political – to our young, diverse audience."

Here are the full details of the star-studded season:

Lia Williams
Lia Williams
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

One For The Road / New World Order / Mountain Language / Ashes to Ashes

6 September to 20 October

Award-winning actress and West End regular Lia Williams will direct one piece while Lloyd heads up a trio for the show in the season. The bill will be composed of One for the Road, in which a government official interrogates a dissident and his family, followed by New World Order, about the abuse of power between two interrogators, Mountain Language about a group of captives, and finally Ashes to Ashes (directed by Williams) is about a dark nightmare in a couple's living room. Casting for the four is to be announced.

Book tickets for One For The Road / New World Order / Ashes to Ashes

David Suchet
David Suchet
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

The Lover / The Collection

13 September to 20 October

David Suchet and John Macmillan lead the cast (the rest of whom have yet to be announced) of the next pair of shows, The Lover and The Collection. Directed by Lloyd himself, both deal with couples embroiled in lies and seduction and a quest for supremacy.

Book tickets for The Lover / The Collection

Tamsin Grieg
Tamsin Greig
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

Landscape / A Kind of Alaska

25 October to 8 December

Next up, Tamsin Greig returns to the West End after her turn in Labour of Love last year with this new double bill. Landscape follows a woman locked inside a memory, while A Kind of Alaska sees Deborah as she wakes up after 29 years of sleep. Lloyd also directs, with the rest of the cast to be announced.

Book tickets for Landscape / A Kind of Alaska

Director Ed Stambollouian, seen here at Pinter Shorts with Alum Armstrong and Joanna Lumley
Director Ed Stambollouian (centre), seen here at Pinter Shorts with Alun Armstrong (left) and Joanna Lumley (right)
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

Moonlight / Night School

1 November to 8 December

Olivier Award winner Lyndsey Turner (Boys and Girls) will direct the first half of the next pair with Moonlight, an emotionally charged comedy set in a dying father's bedroom. Young director Ed Stambollouian takes on Night School, about an East End criminal who returns home from prison to find a mysterious woman waiting for him. Casting for the two parts is to be announced.

Book tickets for Moonlight / Night School

Emma Naomi, Jane Horrocks and Nicholas Woodeson
Emma Naomi, Jane Horrocks and Nicholas Woodeson
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

The Room / Victoria Station / Family Voices

13 December to 26 January 2019

Pinter's colleague and friend Patrick Marber will direct this triple-bill, with a cast including Jane Horrocks, Emma Naomi and Nicholas Woodeson. The Room is Pinter's first play, and examines British xenophobia, while Victoria Station and Family Voices explore our attempts to communicate feelings.

Book tickets for The Room / Victoria Station / Family Voices

Celia Imrie, Abraham Popoola, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Ron Cook
Celia Imrie, Abraham Popoola, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Ron Cook
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

Party Time / Celebration

20 December to 26 January 2019

Lloyd's next directorial effort will come with a crack cast that includes Celia Imrie, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Abraham Popoola and Ron Cook. Party Time, which examines the narcissism of the super-rich, is paired with Pinter's final play Celebration, which dissects the vulgarity of the super-rich.

Book tickets for Party Time / Celebration

Martin Freeman and Danny Dyer
Martin Freeman and Danny Dyer
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

The Dumb Waiter / A Slight Ache

31 January to 23 February

The final show in the Pinter season, once more directed by Lloyd, brings Danny Dyer back to the West End alongside The Hobbit and Labour of Love star Martin Freeman. A Slight Ache sees a mysterious figure enter a country home, while The Dumb Waiter charts the exploits of two hit-men, Gus and Ben.

Book tickets for The Dumb Waiter / A Slight Ache

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