The play is inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" and adapted by director Katie Mitchell and the company. According to press materials, "A woman lies dead on a bed in her wedding dress, a silver knife through her heart. The two men who loved her lie beside her." The production, which is designed by Vicki Mortimer and for which Leo Warner is director of photography, is described as a multi-media performance that develops the use of live video seen in Mitchell's Waves in 2006 (that is scheduled to return to the Cottesloe from Aug. 20, prior to a U.K. and international tour).


 Whishaw previously collaborated onstage with Mitchell on her National Theatre production of The Seagull, with a cast that also included Hattie Morahan who joins him again here. Morahan also appeared in Mitchell's National Theatre production of Iphigenia at Aulis, and was recently seen on TV as Elinor Dashwood in "Sense and Sensibility."

Mitchell's other productions at the National also include Attempts on Her Life, Three Sisters, A Dream Play, Ivanov and The Oresteia.

The full cast also comprises Jamie Ballard, Pandora Colin, Sam Crane, Gawn Grainger, Helena Lymbery and Bradley Taylor.

For tickets, contact the box office on 020 7452 3000, or visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk.