Primeval actor Douglas Henshall will star opposite Tony Award-winner Bryan Cranston in the world premiere of Network at the National Theatre from November.
Directed by Ivo van Hove, Henshall will play the role of Max Schumacher in Lee Hall’s new adaptation of the Oscar-winning film by Paddy Chayefsky.
He joins the previously announced Cranston, who plays anchorman Howard Beale, and Olivier Award nominee Michelle Dockery, who plays Diana Christenson.
Speaking about Network, Douglas said “I’m thrilled to be coming back to the National, and in particular working with Ivo van Hove. I’ve always been a huge fan of the film and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
Howard Beale, news anchorman, isn’t pulling in the viewers – and subsequently, in his final broadcast, he unravels live on screen. But when the ratings soar, the network seizes on their new found populist prophet, and Howard becomes the biggest thing on TV.
Network depicts a dystopian media landscape where opinion trumps fact. Hilarious and horrifying by turns, the iconic film by Paddy Chayefsky won four Academy Awards in 1976.
The show previews from 4 November in the National Lyttelton Theatre. A very limited number of additional on stage seats will be released in the autumn – see the NT website for more information.