The production will be presented in May 2017 under the direction of Marianne Elliott (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, War Horse). Garfield previously appeared at the National in the triple bill Burn/Chatroom/Citizenship and The Overwhelming, both in the Cottesloe Theatre, in 2006-07.
The announcement is part of an extensive slate of forthcoming productions that artistic director Rufus Norris has announced for 2016 and beyond, which will also include a new production of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus that will star Lucian Msamati as Salieri and will open in the Olivier Theatre in October, directed by Michael Longhurst.
Jonathan Kent's Young Chekhov trilogy — comprising Platonov, Ivanov and The Seagull — first premiered at Chichester Festival Theatre last year and will come to the Olivier in July, prior to an official opening Aug. 3, with its Chichester principals of Anna Chancellor and James McArdle. They will be newly joined by Geoffrey Streatfeild in the title role of Ivanov and as Trigorin in The Seagull. Other members of the original company will also return, including Emma Amos, Pip Carter, Jonathan Coy, Nicholas Day, Peter Egan, Joshua James, Beverley Klein, Adrian Lukis, Des McAleer, Nina Sosanya and Olivia Vinall. The plays are presented in versions by David Hare.
Hare will also be represented by the world premiere of The Red Barn, based on Georges Simenon’s novel "La Main," to open in the Lyttelton Theatre in October under the direction of Robert Icke, and produced in association with Scott Rudin.
Ivo van Hove, currently represented on Broadway by A View from the Bridge and about to direct The Crucible there, will make his NT directorial debut with Ibsen's Hedda Gabler that he previously directed at New York Theatre Workshop and at Toneelgroep Amsterdam. He will now remake the production for the National with British actors. Other plays newly announced include a revival of Sean O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars (to be directed by Howard Davies, opening in the Lyttelton July 27 with an ensemble cast including Stephen Kennedy, Justine Mitchell and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor). Sally Cookson, recently represented at the National by the transfer of Jane Eyre from Bristol Old Vic, will see her production of Peter Pan, based on the works of J.M. Barrie, also transfer from Bristol, to play in the Olivier Theatre beginning in November. Tamsin Greig will return to the National to play Malvolia in Twelfth Night, opening in the Olivier in February 2017, under the direction of Simon Godwin, who it has also been announced will direct Ralph Fiennes in Antony and Cleopatra early in 2018.
There will also be several new plays in the Dorfman Theatre, including Alexi Kaye Campbell's Sunset at the Villa Thalia that Simon Godwin will direct to open June 1, with a cast that includes Sam Crane, Elizabeth McGovern, Ben Miles and Pippa Nixon. Also newly announced is the London premiere of Lee Hall's Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour in August, co-produced by National Theatre of Scotland and Live Theatre and directed by Vicky Featherstone; A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer, with a book by Bryony Kimmings and Brian Lobel, music by Tom Parkinson, lyrics by Bryony Kimmings, that will open at Manchester's HOME in September before moving to the Dorfman in October; Alexander Zelda's Love that will open in the Dorfman in December before transferring to Birmingham Rep in January 2017; Lucy Kirkwood's Mosquitoes, which will open in the Dorfman in January 2017 under the direction of Rufus Norris, presented by special arrangement with Manhattan Theatre Club; and Nina Raine's Consent, to be co-produced with Out of Joint and to play from April 2017.
In the National Theatre's Temporary Theatre, the final full production will be Another World: Losing Our Children to Islamic State, a piece of verbatim documentary theatre, written by Gillian Slovo and developed with Nicolas Kent from his original idea that will open April 15 under the direction of Kent. Also, Jack Thorne's The Solid Life of Sugar Water, co-produced by Graeae Theatre Company with Theatre Royal, Plymouth, will run Feb. 26-March 19, and Islington Community Theatre's Brainstorm by Ned Glasier, Emily Lim and the company, which enjoyed a sell-out run earlier this year, will return March 29-April 2.
In addition, it has been announced that The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and War Horse will each embark on second major U.K. national tours in 2017, while Jane Eyre, a co-production with Bristol Old Vic, will also tour in 2017.
Public booking for The Threepenny Opera, Young Chekhov, The Deep Blue Sea, The Plough and the Stars and Sunset at the Villa Thalia opens on March 3. Booking for shows in the Temporary Theatre will open Feb. 4.
To book tickets, contact the box office on 020 7452 3000 or visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk.
