National Theatre announces new 2024 shows including Boys from the Blackstuff and Cherry Jones-led Grapes of Wrath

The National Theatre has unveiled a summer lineup with new productions across its three South Bank stages.

Boys from the Blackstuff, James Graham’s WhatsOnStage Award-nominated adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s acclaimed TV show, comes to the Olivier stage from 22 May following its success at Liverpool’s Royal Court. Directed by Kate Wasserberg, the production features original cast members George Caple, Dominic Carter, Helen Carter, Aron Julius, Nathan McMullen, Lauren O’Neil, Barry Sloane, and Mark Womack.

The set and costume designer is Amy Jane Cook, lighting designer Ian Scott, movement director Rachael Nanyonjo, composer and sound designer Dyfan Jones, associate sound designer Kate Harvey, audio visual designer Jamie Jenkin and fight director Rachel Bown-Williams of Rc-Annie Ltd.

Complicité’s critically lauded classic Mnemonic, conceived by Simon McBurney, will return with original company members Richard Katz and Kostas Philippoglou in the cast performing on the Olivier stage from 22 June.

In the Lyttelton Theatre from 17 July, a new production of Frank Galati’s Tony Award-winning adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath, based on John Steinbeck’s novel, is to be directed by Carrie Cracknell. The cast includes Cherry Jones as Ma Joad.

Meanwhile, Katori Hall’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy, The Hot Wing King, makes its UK debut in the Dorfman Theatre from 11 July, directed by Roy Alexander Weise. Kadiff Kirwan leads the cast.

All productions will feature limited 6:30 pm performances as part of the National Theatre’s ongoing pilot, providing flexibility for audiences with varying working patterns and travel times. This trial follows research into post-Covid lifestyles, offering audiences more time after the show to eat or travel.