Further casting has been announced for the National Theatre’s forthcoming productions of Carl Zuckmayer’s The Captain Of Köpenick and Simon Stephens’ Port, which will play at the Southbank venue in the new year.
Featuring music by Badly Drawn Boy, Marianne Elliott’s production of Port will star Liz White, who returns to the National Theatre following her performances in A Woman Killed With Kindness and double bill Spring Storm and Beyond The Horizon.
The star of Life On Mars will be joined in the cast by John Biggins, Calum Callaghan, Jack Deam, Danny Kelly, Mike Noble, Kate O’Flynn and Katherine Pearce.
Playing in the Lyttelton theatre from 22 January to 24 March, Port tells the story of two children, Rachel and Billy, who wait in the car agitated with excitement and dreaming of Disneyland. Little do they know that this pivotal moment will mark the beginning of a 13-year odyssey as they are left to grow up alone in the deprived suburban shadows of Manchester.
Joining Port in the NT repertoire from 29 January to 4 April in the Olivier theatre will be the Antony Sher-led production of The Captain Of Köpenick.
Joining the Olivier Award-winning actor in the cast are Robert Demeger, Barnaby Kay and Olivia Poulet. Demeger’s theatre credits include Three Days In May and West End long-runner The Woman In Black, while Kay was last seen in the West End starring alongside Olivier Award-winning actress Ruth Wilson in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar Warehouse. Best known for her role in television series The Thick Of It and Sherlock, Poulet appeared on stage earlier this year in Philip Ridley’s Shivered at the Southwark Playhouse.
The talented quartet will be joined in Adrian Noble’s production by Sandy Batchelor, Paul Bentall, Jason Cheater, Paul Chequer, Alan David, James Hayes, David Killick, Siobhán McSweeney, Nick Malinowski, Anthony O’Donnell, Iris Roberts, Nick Sampson, Adrian Schiller, Robin Weaver, Joseph Wilkins and Lynne Wilmot.
Adapted by Ron Hutchinson, Zuckmayer’s satirical play tells the story of petty criminal Wilhelm Voight, who wanders 1910 Berlin in a desperate and hazardous pursuit of identity papers following 15 years imprisonment. His luck changes when he picks up an abandoned military uniform in a fancy dress shop and finds the city ready to obey his every command.
The Captain Of Köpenick and Port open at the Southbank venue next year along with the transfer of James Graham’s This House, which moves from the venue’s intimate Cottesloe theatre to a much larger home in the Olivier from 23 February.