Katherine Kelly, Antony Sher et al. Set for Upcoming Events for UK’s National Theatre

The UK-based National Theatre has announced additional details for its current season.

As previously reported, Antony Sher will headline Nicholas Hytner’s production of Travelling Light, by Nicholas Wright at the Lyttleton, opening January 18, 2012. The play centers on the contributions of Eastern European emigrants to the dawn of Hollywood’s golden age.

The cast will also include Mark Extance, Colin Haigh, Paul Jesson, Sue Kelvin, Abigail McKern, Damien Molony, Lauren O’Neil, Karl Theobald and Alexis Zegerman. The production will feature set designs by Bob Crowley, costumes by Vicki Mortimer, lighting by Bruno Poet, video/projection design by Jon Driscoll, music by Grant Olding and sound by Rich Walsh.

The production is also scheduled to tour to Salford, Leeds, Newcastle and Aylesbury, and it will be broadcast as part of National Theatre Live on February 9.

David Fynn, Harry Hadden-Paton, John Heffernan, Cush Jumbo, Katherine Kelly, Steve Pemberton, Gavin Spokes and Sophie Thompson will star in Jamie Lloyd’s production of Oliver Goldsmith’s classic comedy, She Stoops to Conquer, in the Olivier Theatre, beginning January 24, with an opening on January 31 and an NT Live broadcast scheduled for March 29. The production will be designed by Mark Thomson, with lighting by Neil Austin, sound and music by The Ringham Brothers, and movement by Ann Yee.

Michael Buffong will direct Errol John’s Trinidad-set 1953 play Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, in the Cottesloe beginning March 7, with an opening on March 14. The production will be designed by Soutra Gilmour.

DV8 Physical Theatre will play the Lyttleton from March 9 to 28 with Can We Talk About This?, a work conceived and directed by Lloyd Newson, which examines how events ranging from the 1989 book burnings of Salman Rusdie’s The Satanic Verses, to the murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh and the controversy of the ‘Muhammad cartoons’ in 2005, have reflected and influenced multicultural policies, freedom of speech and censorship.

The cast will feature Joy Constantinides, Lee Davern, Kim-Jomi Fischer, Ermira Goro, Hannes Langolf, Samir M’Kirech, Christina May, Seeta Patel, Anwar Russell and Ira Mandela Siobhan. The production will be designed by Anna Fleischle, with lighting by Beky Stoddart and video design by Tom Reid.

National Theatre Learning will present Island, a new play for young audiences by Nicky Singer, touring to primary schools in the Spring Term from January 18 and coming to the Cottesloe Theatre February 15 – 25. Adam Penford will direct, with the cast including Rebecca Boey and James Cooney. The production will be designed by Simon Kenny, with lighting by Paul Knott and sound by Tom Gibbons.

Full casting has also been announced for two more NT productions. Dominic Cooke’s production of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors (opening in the Olivier Theatre on November 29) will be led by Lenny Henry as Antipholus of Syracuse, and also feature Marcus Adolphy, Tom Anderson, Paul Bentall, Claudie Blakley (Adriana), Ian Burfield, Silas Carson, Clare Cathcart, Lenny Henry, Adrian Hood, Chris Jarman (Antipholus of Ephesus), Lucian Msamati (Dromio of Syracuse), Joseph Mydell (Aegeon), Yvonne Newman, Pamela Nomvete, Rhiannon Oliver, Jude Owusu, Simon Parrish, Daniel Poyser (Dromio of Ephesus), Amit Shah, Michelle Terry (Luciana), Grace Thurgood, Everal A Walsh and Rene Zagger.

The critically acclaimed Bristol Old Vic production of Swallows and Amazon,
a new musical play with book by Helen Edmundson and songs by Neil Hannon, will play the West End’s Vaudeville Theatre December 15-January 14, presented by the National Theatre and The Children’s Touring Partnership. The full cast is Celia Adams, Greg Barnett, Neal Craig, Akiya Henry, Adrian Garratt, Alison George, Richard Holt, Katie Moore, Hilary Tones, Jon Trenchard, Sophie Waller and Stewart Wright.

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