Rosamund Pike to make National Theatre debut as boss Norris marks final season
Rosamund Pike will make her National Theatre debut in a new production as Rufus Norris marks his final season as artistic director of the organisation.
Norris, who announced last year he would step down in 2025, will showcase new plays including from Prima Facie writer Suzie Miller.
Miller’s new production, Inter Alia, sees British actress and Gone Girl star Pike play a High Court judge who has “to reckon her professional life and role as wife, mother, friend and feminist”.
It is directed by Justin Martin, who also worked on Olivier Award-winning Prima Facie, about a criminal defence lawyer who is sexually assaulted.
Bafta-winning Sherwood actor Adeel Akhtar, and Olivier-nominated actor Arinze Kene also make their debuts, as Coronation Street star Tracie Bennett, Skyfall actor Rory Kinnear, True Blood star Denis O’Hare, Good Omens Michael Sheen, and Truly, Madly, Deeply actress Juliet Stevenson return to the theatre.
Norris, who began as director in 2015, will direct the musical London Road as well as Sheen as he returns to play Aneurin “Nye” Bevan, who spearheaded the founding of the NHS, in Nye.
Akhtar will star in family drama The Estate, written by Shaan Sahota and directed by Daniel Raggett, as a politician going through a downfall, while Stevenson will be in David Lan’s new play The Land Of The Living about displaced Second World War children, and directed by The Crown executive producer Stephen Daldry.
Bennett, Kinnear and O’Hare are all cast in the Stephen Sondheim musical Here We Are, which is directed by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello.
Olivier Award-winning Dear England by James Graham, about former England manager Gareth Southgate, returns and continues to be directed by Almeida artistic director Rupert Goold.
It is being updated to cover Southgate stepping down this year, following The Three Lions making their second Euros final during his tenure.
Norris said: “Leading the creative powerhouse that is the National Theatre over the past decade has been a profound privilege.
“I am humbled by the commitment, dedication and passion shown day in and day out by the extraordinary people who have joined me in the mission to make the NT a representative, sustainable, world-class theatre, reaching far beyond its concrete walls.”
Artistic director of London’s Kiln Theatre Indhu Rubasingham will take over as director, and will be joint chief executive of the National Theatre with Kate Varah.
Nye will also be at Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre and Dear England will also be shown at Salford’s The Lowry.
Ms Varah said: “It has been a joy and privilege to work alongside Rufus for the past three years.
“His unwavering commitment to creating a truly national theatre, platforming new writers and artists, has given the country a decade of exciting and important cultural moments.”
The new season runs from February 2025, with some productions yet to be scheduled.
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