Tim Sheader announces his inaugural season as Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse

Tim Sheader and Executive Director Henny Finch announce Sheader’s first season as Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse. The season is comprised of the world premieres of 2 brand new plays, the UK premiere of an award-winning musical and a major revival. The Donmar also today announces a renewed commitment to developing younger audiences, making over 8000 tickets available at £20 for people aged 35 and under.

The season launches with the world premiere of The Fear of 13 by Lindsey Ferrentino, based on the true story of Nick Yarris who spent 22 years on Death Row. Directed by Justin Martin, and starring Academy Award winner Adrien Brody, both making their Donmar Warehouse debuts.

Sheader then directs the UK premiere of Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. The multi-award-winning musical is inspired by a scandalous slice of Tolstoy’s seminal work War and Peace.

Anna Mackmin returns to the Donmar to direct the world premiere of her new play Backstroke – a tender new work that examines the mother/daughter relationship, and the impact when the roles are reversed. The cast is led by Celia Imrie who returns to the Donmar, and Tamsin Greig making her Donmar debut.

Completing the season is a major revival of Intimate Apparel, starring Emmy Award winner Samira Wiley, which reunites playwright Lynn Nottage and director Lynette Linton on the Donmar stage, following their collaborations on Sweat and Clyde’s.

The programming at the company’s home base will run alongside the West End transfers of the critically acclaimed productions of the Pulitzer Prize winning Next to Normal which is currently running at Wyndham’s Theatre; and Macbeth with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, which opens at the Harold Pinter Theatre in October.

Sheader and Finch have appointed Titas Halder as Associate Artistic Director. Previously Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar 2010-2011, Halder takes up the role with immediate effect joining the company’s senior management team. Also joining the organisation is Lotte Hines CDG, who starts as Casting Director in September.

Also announced today is Macbeth: Something Wicked, a schools’ tour in a brand new and bespoke production for secondary school children, adapted by Eleanor Tindall and directed by Milli Bhatia. Generously supported by Camden Council and Westminster City Council, the production is being performed free to 3500 students in 17 state schools across Camden and Westminster before the end of the summer term.

Alongside the schools’ tour, the Donmar LOCAL programme will also support over 2000 young people from local schools to access this season’s productions for free.

Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse Tim Sheader said today, “I am hugely honoured to be leading this very special theatre into a new era, building on the legacy of my predecessors. With all these new projects, I look forward to welcoming both loyal and new audiences to gather together in our beautiful three-sided auditorium, where connecting with artists and each other is central to every performance.

“It is an immense privilege to be announcing today our first four productions kicking off with a world premiere based on an extraordinary true story, starring Adrien Brody in his London stage debut. I’m looking forward to directing a party-fuelled Broadway musical that has never been seen this side of the pond, and then we have a beautiful new play that touches the lives of so many of us led by the brilliant Tamsin Greig and Celia Imrie.  And finally announced today, another opportunity to experience the stellar combination of Lynette Linton and Lynn Nottage’s writing, this time welcoming the amazing Samira Wiley to the Donmar stage for the first time. Throughout all these shows you’ll find the Donmar’s DNA – excellent productions, starring outstanding actors, all experienced up close in our intimate theatre.

“We are all too aware that with the hard realities of both cost-of-living and housing crises, younger audiences could be feeling priced out of making theatre a part of their lives. We want everyone to have the chance to experience the Donmar, and we have therefore made a brand new commitment to ensuring that across the season there will be thousands of £20 tickets available for audiences aged 35 and under.

“Today we are also announcing our flagship production from our Donmar LOCAL programme – a schools’ tour this summer of an adapted version of Macbeth. Taking theatre into secondary schools for free, often giving young people their first experience of theatre, is a vital part of building audiences for the future.

“Putting a season together like this is an enormous team effort, so I’m very grateful to my joint CEO Henny Finch and the whole Donmar team for all their hard work, skill and care.  I’m also delighted to introduce Titas Halder, in the new role of Associate Artistic Director, another cornerstone of our embedded talent development initiatives.

“The Donmar remains destination theatre, please do join us for a night out to remember.”

Generously supported by Charles Holloway OBE, Season Supporter

Priority booking for Donmar supporters opens from 25th June, with public booking opening on 3 July at 9am.

THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
THE FEAR OF 13
by Lindsey Ferrentino
Based on the documentary film by David Sington

Cast includes: Adrien Brody

Directed by Justin Martin
Set design by Miriam Buether
Costume design by Brigitte Reiffenstuel
Lighting design by Jon Clark
Sound design by Ian Dickinson for Autograph
Video design by Ash J Woodward
Composer and Music Director DJ Walde
Casting Director Anna Cooper CDG

4 October 2024 – 30 November 2024
Press Night 10 October at 7pm

“The first thing you should know is that this is true. It’s what actually happened.

I know it seems like it’s a story – inside of a story – inside of a story.

–but that’s how it is for most people. At least the ones in here.”

 

Nick’s got a story to tell you. About how a routine traffic stop turned into a conviction for murder. About how he spent the next 22 years on Death Row. About how he finally petitioned the court to ask not for an appeal, but for his execution date. And about what happened next…

Based on the extraordinary true story of Nick Yarris, Academy Award winner Adrien Brody makes his London theatre debut in the world premiere of The Fear of 13; a new play by Lindsey Ferrentino (Ugly Lies the Bone) directed by Justin Martin(Prima Facie).

Following a successful partnership with Clean Break in 2023, the Donmar Warehouse will be partnering with the company again this Autumn to offer up to 8 volunteering placements across front of house roles to provide employability skills to women aged 18 and above who have lived experience of the criminal justice system or are at risk of entering it. Clean Break is a women’s theatre company, changing lives and minds, on stage, in prison and in the community.

Lindsey Ferrentino is an American playwright with three world premieres in the 2024 season. In May, she opened The Artist in the UK (co-adapted with Drew McConie, Theatre Royal Plymouth), and this August, she will premiere the new musical The Queen of Versailles (book by Lindsey Ferrentino, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, starring Kristin Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham, The Colonial Theater). Her other produced plays include Ugly Lies the Bone (Lyttleton at National Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York, with over 100 productions worldwide), Amy and the Orphans (Roundabout Theatre Company), This Flat Earth (Playwrights Horizons), and The Year to Come (La Jolla Playhouse).  Her plays have been translated into Spanish, German, and Portuguese and have been produced across the US, in London, Germany, Spain, and Venezuela. This winter, she will direct her first feature film – an adaptation of her play Amy and the Orphans for Jason Bateman’s Aggregate Films. She is the recipient of The Arc’s prize for Entertainment Industry Excellence for her writing centered on disability inclusion. Other prizes include: the Kesserling, ASCAP Cole Porter Playwriting Prize, Paul Newman Drama Award, Laurents/Hatcher Award, NYU Distinguished Alumna Award, and Hunter College’s 40 Under 40 Distinguished Alumna.

 

Adrien Brody is an Academy Award-winning actor, producer, composer and painter best known for The Pianist, for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor. For television, he has starred in HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Los Angeles Lakers and the acclaimed crime drama Peaky Blinders. He garnered Emmy nominations for his performances as Harry Houdini inHoudini and investor Josh Aaronson in HBO’s acclaimed drama series Succession. His film credits include Asteroid City, King Kong, The Darjeeling Limited, The French Dispatch, and Midnight in Paris. His forthcoming films include Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist.

Justin Martin directs. For theatre, his credits include Kyoto (RSC/Good Chance co-production), Stranger Things – The First Shadow (Olivier Award for Best Entertainment), The Jungle (A Young Vic/National Theatre co-production which played at the Young Vic, West End, St Ann’s Warehouse and in San Francisco and Washington DC – Obie (Southbank Sky Arts Award and a Broadway World Award for Best Direction) – all co-directed with Stephen Daldry. His other credits include Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie with Jodie Comer (West End and Broadway, with the NT Live broadcast being the highest earning event cinema of all time). His other theatre work includes Low Level Panic (Galway Theatre Festival, Irish tour and Australia, Last Chance: A Plea For the Unaccompanied Children of Calais (Young Vic), The Nether (Seymour Centre, Sydney), Far Away(fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne), Fifty Two (Leicester Square Theatre), Good Chance/No Chance (as part of the Southbank Centre’s Festival of Love), Harvey and Frieda (Arcola Theatre), Street (Mick Laly Theatre – Galway Theatre Festival), The Kitchen (HM Theatre, Victoria) and Skintight (fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne). His long collaboration with Daldry also includes as Associate Director on The Inheritance, Skylight and The Audience (West End and Broadway). He is an associate artist with Good Chance Theatre, and was the inaugural recipient of the Roger Leach Award for Theatre. In 2021 he co-directed the critically acclaimed and BAFTA Award-winning film Together with Stephen Daldry for Sonia Friedman Productions, BBC Films, and Shoebox Films (starring James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan). His other screen credits includeThe Lovers for Sky Atlantic, Sundance and AMC, the first two seasons of the award-winning Netflix series The Crown, the upcoming Netflix film The Beautiful Game, and the NT Live performances of Prima Facie, Skylight and The Audience.

THE UK PREMIERE OF

NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812
Music, lyrics, book and orchestrations by Dave Malloy

Directed by Tim Sheader
Choreography by Ellen Kane
Musical Supervisor Nicholas Skilbeck
Set design by Leslie Travers
Costume design by Evie Gurney
Sound design by Nick Lidster and Gareth Tucker for Autograph
Musical Director Sam Young
Casting Director Pippa Ailion CDG for Pippa Ailion and Natalie Gallacher Casting
Associate Director Fiona Dunn

7 December 2024 – 8 February 2025
Press Night 16 December at 7pm

“Gonna have to study up a little bit
If you wanna keep with the plot
Cuz it’s a complicated Russian novel
Everyone’s got nine different names
So look it up in your program
We’d appreciate it, thanks a lot.
Da da da
Da da da
Da da da”

 

Arriving in the glittering opulent world of Moscow High Society, the impulsive and romantic Natasha Rostova awaits the return of her fiancé from the front lines. But when she falls under the spell of an intoxicating aristocrat, it is up to the unlikely hero, Pierre, to pick up the pieces of her shattered reputation.

Inspired by a scandalous slice of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, multi-award-winning Dave Malloy’s dazzling, genre-defying musical is a ravishing party from start to finish.

Nominated for 12 Tony Awards on Broadway, this brand new Donmar production is directed by Artistic Director Tim Sheaderin its UK premiere. His international Olivier Award-winning musical productions include Jesus Christ Superstar and Into the Woods.

Dave Malloy is an award-winning composer, writer, performer, and orchestrator. He has written music for eighteen musicals, including Three Houses, a post-pandemic open mic night parable about magic, madness, and the end of the world; The Witches, an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s novel at the National Theatre in London; Love Around the Block, a musical commissioned by Hermѐs for the grand opening of their new flagship store in New York City; Moby-Dick, a four-part musical reckoning with Herman Melville’s epic; Octet, a chamber choir musical about internet addiction; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (12 Tony nominations, including Best Musical, Score, Book, and Orchestrations); Ghost Quartet, a song cycle about love, death, and whiskey; Preludes, a musical fantasia set in the hypnotised mind of Sergei Rachmaninoff;Three Pianos, a drunken romp through Schubert’s “Winterreise”; Beowulf—A Thousand Years of Baggage, an anti-academia rock opera; Beardo, a reinterpretation of the Rasputin myth; Sandwich, a musical about killing animals; and Clown Bible, Genesis to Revelation told through clowns. He has won three Obie Awards, a Smithsonian Ingenuity Award, a Drama Desk Award, a Lortel Award, a Theater World Award, the Richard Rodgers Award, an ASCAP New Horizons Award, and a Jonathan Larson Grant; has been a MacDowell fellow and Composer-in-Residence at Ars Nova; and is a Residency 5 Writer at the Signature Theatre. His upcoming work includes a musical adaptation of the film Black Swan.

Tim Sheader is Artistic Director and Joint Chief Executive of the Donmar Warehouse. He was previously Artistic Director of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre where he directed over 20 productions, including the Olivier and Evening Standard Award-winning musicals Into the Woods (also Central Park’s Delacorte Theater), Hello Dolly, Crazy For You (also West End), and Jesus Christ Superstar which, following two sold out seasons at Regent’s Park and a transfer to the Barbican, has been touring the US for three years, is currently on tour in the UK and opens in Australia this September. His critically acclaimed production of To Kill a Mockingbird also toured the UK ending with a sell-out run at the Barbican. Committed to taking the company’s work to as wide an audience as possible, he oversaw further UK tours of productions including Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Flies and Running Wild. His other stage work includes The Monstrous Child (Royal Opera House), My Fair Lady (Aarhus Theatre), Barnum (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Magistrate (National Theatre), Don Pasquale (Opera National de Lorraine and upcoming in Lausanne and Nice).

 

 

THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
BACKSTROKE
Written and directed by Anna Mackmin

Cast includes: Tamsin Greig, Celia Imrie
Design by Lez Brotherston
Lighting design by Paule Constable
Casting Director Anna Cooper CDG

14 February 2025 – 12 April 2025
Press Night 20 February at 7pm

 

“Just let go. Let your body float. You’ll still be here but it’ll feel like flying in a dream.”

Bo is busy – balancing the pressures of work and the needs of her struggling daughter. When her mother, the irrepressible force-of-nature Beth, is admitted to hospital following a stroke, the practical realities of the present collide with the complexities of their past.

Celia Imrie and Tamsin Greig play mother and daughter in this kaleidoscopic and compassionate new play, written and directed by Anna Mackmin.

Anna Mackmin returns to the Donmar – she previously directed The Dark. Her first novel Devoured was published by Propolis 2018. It was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliot prize, won the New Angles book of the year and the East Anglian book award for best novel. Her other work as a director includes The Divine Mrs S (Hampstead Theatre), Woman in Mind(Chichester Festival Theatre), Di and Viv and Rose (Hampstead Theatre/Vaudeville Theatre), Hedda Gabler, The Real Thing, Dancing at Lughnasa (The Old Vic), Really Old, Like Forty Five; Chatroom, Burn & Citizenship (National Theatre),Hedda Gabler, Ghosts (Gate Theatre Dublin), In Celebration, Under the Blue Sky (Duke of York’s), Dying for It, The Lightning Play (Almeida Theatre), Mammals (Bush Theatre/tour), Breathing Corpses, Food Chain (Royal Court Theatre), Auntie and Me (Wyndham’s Theatre/Gaiety Theatre Dublin), In Flame (Bush Theatre/Ambassadors Theatre), Airswimming(Battersea Arts Centre), Me and My Girl, The Crucible, Iphigenia, Teeth ‘n’ Smiles, and The Arbor (Sheffield Theatres).

Tamsin Greig plays Bo. Her theatre credits includes The Deep Blue Sea (Theatre Royal Bath), Peggy for You, iHo (Hampstead Theatre), Talking Heads Live: Nights in The Garden of Spain (Bridge Theatre), A Kind of Alaska/Landscape(Harold Pinter Theatre), Labour of Love (Noël Coward Theatre), Twelfth Night (National Theatre), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Playhouse Theatre), Jumpy (Royal Court Theatre), God of Carnage (Gielgud Theatre), The Little Dog Laughed (Garrick Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (RSC and Novello – Olivier & Critics Award for Best Actress), andGethsemane (National Theatre). Her television work includes The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, Suspect, Sexy Beast, The Amazing Mr Blunden, The Diary of Anne Frank, Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, Belgravia, Elementary, Diana and I, Inside No 9, The Guilty, White Heat, Episodes (BAFTA Best Comedy Performance nomination), Friday Night Dinner (BAFTA Best Comedy Performance nomination), Emma, Green Wing (Royal Television Society Award for Best Actress, BAFTA Best Comedy Performance nomination), and Black Books (British Comedy Award nomination for Best Actress); and for film, Land of Legend, My Happy Ending, Official Secrets, Romeo and Juliet, Days of the Bagnold Summer, Tamara Drewe (Nominated BIFA Best Supporting Actress), The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Breaking the Bank, and Stop the World.

Celia Imrie returns to the Donmar to play Beth – she previously appeared in Polar Bears and Habeas Corpus. Her other theatre work includes Party Time / Celebration, The Hothouse (Harold Pinter Theatre), Noises Off (The Old Vic), Hay Fever (Rose Theatre Kingston), The Rivals (Southwark Playhouse), Mixed Up North (Wilton’s Music Hall), Plague Over England(Duchess Theatre), Unsuspecting Susan (King’s Head/59th Street Theatre, New York), Acorn Antiques: The Musical(Theatre Royal Haymarket, Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical), The School for Scandal(RSC), Dona Rosita the Spinster (Almeida Theatre), and The Sea (National Theatre, Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actress). Her television work includes The Diplomat, Better Things, Short Adam, Keeping Faith, Hang Ups, Patrick Melrose, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Vicious, Our Zoo, Blandings, Coming Up, Love & Marriage, Doctor Who, Titanic, The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff, Cranford, After You’ve Gone, Kingdom, Still Game; Doctor Zhivago, Daniel Deronda, Sparkhouse, Absolutely Fabulous, Love in a Cold Climate, Gormenghast, dinnerladies, Microsoap, Duck Patrol, The History of Tom Jones and Wokenwell; and for film, Good Grief, Love Again, Love Sarah, Nativity Rocks!, Malevolent, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, Finding Your Feet, A Cure for Wellness, Bridget Jones’s Baby, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, Year by the Sea, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?!, What We Did on Our Holiday, The Love Punch, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, You will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fool’s Gold, St Trinian’s, Nanny McPhee, Imagine Me & You, Wah-Wah, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Wimbledon, Out of Bounds, Calendar Girls, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Hillary and Jackie, The Borrowers, In The Bleak Midwinter, Frankenstein, Highlander, and the forthcoming The Thursday Murder Club and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. She was awarded the Women in Film and Television Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.

During the production of Backstroke the Donmar Warehouse will be working with local charity Arts for Dementia to create a bespoke training and insights programme for staff, freelancers and creative teams, to understand more about dementia, the role of carers and how they can access support and advice. Arts for Dementia will work closely with Donmar teams to design and create the programme of activity, expanding on their work with leading arts organisations.

 

 

INTIMATE APPAREL

by Lynn Nottage

 

Cast includes: Samira Wiley

Directed by Lynette Linton

Design by Alex Berry

Lighting design by Jai Morjaria

Sound design by George Dennis

Video design by Gino Ricardo Green

Composer XANA

Casting Director Anna Cooper CDG & Lotte Hines CDG

 

20 June 2025 – 9 August 2025

Press Night 26 June at 7pm

 

“Do you think there’s something wrong with a woman alone?”

New York, 1905. Emmy Award winner Samira Wiley plays Esther, who sews exquisite lingerie for women from all walks of life. Successful and fiercely independent, she dreams of opening her own beauty salon, but can’t shake the longing to fall in love. When she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome stranger, it looks like it could just be her ticket to happiness.

Double Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Lynn Nottage reunites with director Lynette Linton (Critics’ Circle Best Director for Blues for an Alabama Sky) for this new production of one of Nottage’s most acclaimed plays, following their sell-out productions of Sweat and Clyde’s for the Donmar.

Lynn Nottage is a playwright and a screenwriter, and the first woman to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Her recent work includes Clyde’s (Guthrie), the musical adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees (Atlantic Theater), the Opera adaptation ofIntimate Apparel composed by Ricky Ian Gordon, commissioned by and premiering at Lincoln Center Theater; and the musical MJ, featuring the music of Michael Jackson (Broadway, and West End). Nottage’s plays include Sweat (Donmar Warehouse and West End, Pulitzer Prize, Evening Standard Award for Best New Play, Olivier Award Nomination for Best Play), Mlima’s Tale (Lortel Nomination, Outer Critics Circle Nomination), By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Lilly Award), Ruined(Almeida Theatre, Pulitzer Prize, Obie Award, South Bank Sky Award Nomination, Evening Standard Nomination), Intimate Apparel (Theatre Royal Bathl, Park Theatre, American Theatre Critics, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards; Shortlist for Evening Standard Award), Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine (Tricycle Theatre), and Decade/The Odds (Headlong). She also developed This is Reading, a groundbreaking multimedia performance installation in Reading, PA. She was a writer and producer on the first season of the Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It, directed by Spike Lee. Nottage is a Professor at Columbia University School of the Arts, and the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship, Steinberg “Mimi” Distinguished Playwright Award, Doris Duke Artists Award, and PEN/Laura Pels Master Playwright Award, amongst others. She is also a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Theater Hall of Fame.

 

Samira Wiley plays Esther. She stars as Moira on Hulu’s prestige drama The Handmaid’s Tale, a role that earned her an Emmy win, four Emmy nominations, an NAACP Image Award nomination and four SAG Award nominations. She is currently shooting the action-adventure series Atomic for Sky in Morocco. In 2022, she headlined the acclaimed Blues for an Alabama Sky at the National Theatre in London. She is also well known for her SAG Award winning performance as inmate Poussey on Orange Is the New Black.  Wiley’s past film credits include Breaking News in Yuba County, Detroit, Social Animals, 37, Nerve, Rob The Mob, Being Flynn, The Sitter and Vault. Additional television credits include HBO’s Equal, Netflix’s Love, Death and Robots,  a starring role on Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on TV, recurring roles on You’re the Worst and Unforgettable. Wiley has starred in the Off-Broadway play Daphne’s Dive, multiple productions with Moliere in the Park in Brooklyn, and Theatre of War’s production of Antigone in Ferguson.  She was recently Co-Producer for the Broadway play Thoughts of a Colored Man. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

 

Lynette Linton is the Artistic Director of the Bush Theatre. She was previously Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse. For the Donmar, her credits include Clyde’s and Sweat (also West End; Best Director, Black British Theatre Awards). Her other productions include Shifters, August in England, House Of Ife and Chiaroscuro (Bush Theatre), Blues for an Alabama Sky (National Theatre, Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Director and Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director), Richard II (co-directed with Adjoa Andoh, marking the first ever company of women of colour in a Shakespeare play on a major UK stage) (Shakespeare’s Globe), Assata Taught Me (Gate Theatre) Function (National Youth Theatre) This Is (Arts Educational School), Indenture (Dark Horse Festival), Naked (Vault Festival), This Wide Night (Albany Theatre). She was also co-director on Chicken Palace (Theatre Royal Stratford East). As assistant/associate director her credits includeThe York Realist, Belleville, The Lady from The Sea and Knives in Hens (Donmar Warehouse), Torn (Royal Court), Image of An Unknown Young Woman, The Christians (Gate Theatre), Gutted (Theatre Royal Stratford East), and The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Noel Coward Theatre). As a writer her productions include Hashtag Lightie (Arcola Theatre), and Chicken Palace and Step (Theatre Royal Stratford East). For television, her credits include My Name is Leon; and as writer: Look At Me.

Macbeth: Something Wicked

Schools’ Tour

20 June – 12 July 2024

By Eleanor Tindall, adapted from The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Directed by Milli Bhatia
Set and costume design by Shankho Chaudhuri
Sound design and composition by Sam Jones
Movement direction by Theophilus O. Bailey
Casting Director Anna Cooper CDG and Charlotte Sumner-Hughes

Macbeth: Ashley Gerlach
Witch and ensemble: Lucy Jamieson
Lady Macbeth: Nadi Kemp-Sayfi
Witch and ensemble: Bryony Maguire
Witch and ensemble: Joshua Sinclair-Evans

 

Shakespeare’s classic tale of vaulting ambition and its bloody consequences gets a powerful new adaptation in this innovative production for young audiences. Adapted by Eleanor Tindall and directed by Milli Bhatia, Macbeth: Something Wicked puts the spotlight on twisted definitions of masculinity and the circular nature of violence.

Macbeth: Something Wicked will tour to 17 schools across Camden and Westminster this summer, reaching over 3500 young people. The Schools’ Tour is generously supported by Camden Council and Westminster City Council and is a flagship production from the Donmar’s LOCAL programme.

 

 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Associate Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse Titas Halder is a writer and director working across theatre, film and music. He was previously Associate Director at the Kiln Theatre, Creative Associate at the Bush Theatre, and a Staff Director at the National Theatre. As a director he trained as Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse, on the National Theatre Studio Directors Course, and with directors including Michael Grandage, Jamie Lloyd, and Roger Michell. As a writer he trained on the Royal Court Theatre Young Writers’ Programme.

His first two plays Run The Beast Down (Finborough Theatre and Marlowe Theatre, Strawdog Theatre Chicago), andEscape The Scaffold (Theatre503 and The Other Room) saw him nominated for Best Writer at the inaugural Stage Debut Awards. His next play The Basement was a finalist for the Verity Bargate Award. His other writing includes Replica (National Theatre Connections). He is part of BBC Voices 2024, and is currently writing his first feature film for Storyteller Productions.

As a director, his work includes This is Not a Coup (Yard Theatre, Paines Plough, RWCMD), The Lemon Table written by and starring Ian McDiarmid – co-directed with Michael Grandage (MGC, Salisbury Playhouse & UK Tour), Sinners Club(Soho Theatre, The Other Room & Theatr Clwyd), St. Nicholas (The Other Room and Theatr Clwyd), Play/Silence (The Other Room), A Boy and His Soul written by and starring Colman Domingo (Kiln Theatre), The Dance of Death starring Indira Varma (Donmar Trafalgar), The Goat at Midnight (66 Books – Bush Theatre), and Painting a Wall (Finborough Theatre). His Associate Director credits include To Kill a Mockingbird (West End), Consent (National Theatre and West End),King Lear (Donmar Warehouse, UK Tour, Brooklyn Academy of Music). He performs and records as musical artist Titas and the Fox.

Lotte Hines CDG joins the Donmar as Casting Director in September 2024. She worked in the Royal Court Theatre Casting Department from 2008 – 2014. Her theatre work includes: Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Palace Theatre); Accidental Death of An Anarchist (Theatre Royal Haymarket); English (RSC/Kiln); Fangirls, Closer (Lyric Hammersmith); Ivan and The Dogs; Things of Dry Hours; La Musica; dirty butterfly, The Island (Young Vic Theatre); Pests, Hole (Royal Court Theatre); Between Riverside and Crazy; The Forest (Hampstead Theatre); The Ballad of Hattie and James; Mlima’s Tale (Kiln); Twelfth Night; Bear Snores On; The Tempest; As You Like It; Pride and Prejudice; To Kill a Mockingbird (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre);  Romeo & Juliet; Let The Right One In; The Mountaintop; Glee & Me (Royal Exchange Theatre); Never Have I Ever; The Vortex; Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles? (Chichester Festival Theatre); Junkyard; The Glass Menagerie; The Absence of War; Medea (Headlong); The Wolves (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Barbershop Chronicles (US tour – a National Theatre, Fuel co-production); The Weir (Royal Lyceum Edinburgh). Casting for short films includes: CLA’AM (winner of Best UK Short Raindance Film Festival); Above (winner of Best Short Film at the National Film Awards) Influencer (Young Vic and Financial Times); Data (Sonia Friedman Productions and Financial Times). Casting Associate for TV series Lockwood & Co (Netfix) and film Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Netflix).

 

PERFORMANCE TIMES

Evenings Mon – Sat 7.30pm

Thursday & Saturday matinees 2.30pm

 

TICKET PRICES

The Fear of 13, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
£65 (£60) / £50 (£45) / £30 (£25)

Backstroke, Intimate Apparel
£60 (£55) / £45 (£40) / £25 (£20)

Preview discounts apply to the first four performances only

Standing £15 to be released at a later date

On sale dates

Tuesday 25th June – Donmar Patrons
Wednesday 26th June – Best Friends
Friday 28th June – Friends
Tuesday 2nd July – Access scheme
Wednesday 3rd July – Public booking opens

 

35 AND UNDER TICKETS AT £20
Aged 16-35? Sign up to our exclusive email list to book tickets for £20, located throughout the theatre including the front row. Plus receive insights to shows, invites to socials, and exclusive offers at the bar and more. Book early to secure these prices. www.donmarwarehouse.com/35under

Maximum two tickets per person – both need to be aged 35 or under at time of the performance. Subject to availability. ID will need to be shown at Box Office to collect tickets. 

DONMAR DAILY

New tickets on sale every day at the Donmar. Allocations of tickets will be made available every day for performances 7 days later. Tickets will be available across the auditorium at every price band.

 

ACCESS

The Donmar Warehouse is fully wheelchair accessible. Guide dogs and hearing dogs are welcome in the auditorium. There is a Loop system and a Radio Frequency system fitted in the main auditorium and there are also hearing loops at all the front of house counters.

 

ASSISTED PERFORMANCES
If you require a companion to attend the Donmar, their ticket will be free. To book call 020 3282 3808 or emailaccess@donmarwarehouse.com.

For all other access enquiries or bookings call 020 3282 3808.

 

SEASON AT A GLANCE

SKELETON CREW
28 June – 24 August 2024
Audio Described performance Saturday 17 August at 2.30pm
Captioned performance Monday 12 August at 7.30pm

 

THE FEAR OF 13
4 October 2024 – 30 November 2024
Captioned: Monday 18 November 7.30pm
Audio described: Saturday 16 November 2.30pm

 

NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812
7 December 2024 – 8 February 2025
Captioned: Monday 27 January 7.30pm
Audio described: Saturday 1 February 2.30pm

 

BACKSTROKE
14 February 2025 – 12 April 2025
Captioned: Monday 31 March at 7.30pm
Audio described: Saturday 5 April at 2.30pm

 

INTIMATE APPAREL
20 June 2025 – 9 August 2025
Captioned: Monday 28 July at 7.30pm
Audio described: Saturday 2 August at 2.30pm

 

DONMAR WEST END:

NEXT TO NORMAL
Directed by Michael Longhurst
WYNDHAM’S THEATRE
18 June – 21 September 2024

 

MACBETH
Directed by Max Webster
HAROLD PINTER THEATRE
1 October – 14 December 2024

Since 2019 the Donmar has doubled the reach of its schools and community work, including twice touring full scale productions to schools in its local boroughs in response to declining arts provision in schools.

The company has also significantly expanded its talent development work, launching CATALYST, its training programme that creates paid training opportunities for those historically underrepresented in the sector. Since 2019 the programme has helped launch the careers of 31 early career artists and administrators, 90% of whom continue to work in the sector.

Thousands of young people each year get to see the Donmar’s world-class productions through audience development programmes providing heavily discounted or free tickets.

 

DONMAR WAREHOUSE

The Donmar offers a uniquely intimate theatre experience where no audience member is ever more than four rows from the action.  In our converted warehouse in the heart of the West End, we bring together exceptional artists to tell powerful, popular and inclusive stories.  For over 30 years we’ve been making celebrated productions of classic plays, new work and intimate musicals that illuminate the human experience and thrill theatre-goers at our home base and further afield through transfers and on screen.  We enable talented emerging artists to find new routes into the industry, and create opportunities for local young people to experience the artform as both audience members and makers.  Through our productions and participation programmes we inspire audiences and artists of all backgrounds to embrace the experience of live theatre as a catalyst for inquiry, compassion, connection and joy.