The Public Theater and Donmar Warehouse will present Privacy, a new play co-created by James Graham and Josie Rourke. Stage and screen star Daniel Radcliffe is set to star in the new work about privacy and technology in the digital age. Inspired by the revelations of Edward Snowden, Privacy will invite audiences to keep their phones on during performances.
The boundary-pushing work is written by Graham, with direction by Rourke. Performances are set to begin July 5 and run through August 7 in the Newman Theater, with an official opening night set for July 18.
Radcliffe is set to star as “The Writer” and will be joined onstage by De’Adre Aziza, Raffi Barsoumian, Michael Countryman, Rachel Dratch and Reg Rogers, playing an ensemble of real-life politicians, journalists and technologists who have all contributed to the show.
Here’s how the theatre bills the new play: “Privacy explores our complicated relationship with technology and data through the funny and heart-breaking travails of a lonely guy (Radcliffe), who arrives in the city to figure out how to like, tag, and share his life without giving it all away. The play uncovers what our technological choices reveal about who we are, what we want and who’s keeping track of it all. This provocative theatrical event will ask audiences to charge their phones, leave them ON during the performance and to embark on a fascinating dive online and into a new reality where we’re all connected…for better or worse.”
“Privacy is delightful and chilling, incredibly friendly, and profoundly thoughtful,” says Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis in a statement. “James Graham is quietly becoming one of our bravest playwrights, and Josie Rourke is a director, and leader, to be reckoned with. This first-time collaboration between The Public and the Donmar Warehouse is, we hope, the start of something wonderful. I’m thrilled to welcome them.”
Graham and Rourke previously collaborated on The Vote, a play for theatre and television that was recently nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Award.
Single tickets will be available beginning May 24 by calling (212) 967-7555, publictheater.org, or in person at the Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street, Manhattan.
