Steven Webb will join the exciting line-up of performers set to appear at the National Theatre this autumn when he appears in the stage adaptation of modern children’s classic I Want My Hat Back.
The London stage regular, who returns to the South Bank venue following performances in Chatroom / Citizenship and The History Boys, will help tell Jon Klassen’s classic tale of a bear who’s lost some very important headwear in the Temporary Theatre from 12 November to 2 January.
The production, which is brought to the stage with a book and lyrics by Joel Horwood and music by Arthur Darvill, will feature a cast that also includes Naana Agyei-Ampadu (Made In Dagenham, West End), Oliver Birch (Treasure Island, NT), Natalie Klamar (Future Conditional, The Old Vic), Richie Hart (Morning To Midnight), Pieter Lawman (War Horse, West End), Marek Larwood and Adam Pleeth.
Casting has also been announced today for Dominic Cooke’s production of Caryl Churchill’s Here We Go, which will see Patrick Godfrey and Eleanor Matsuura take to the Lyttelton Theatre’s stage from 25 November to 19 December.
Godfrey’s credits at the NT include Collaborators, His Dark Materials, Three Sisters and the forthcoming Rosalie Craig-led As You Like It, while Utopia star Matsuura, most recently seen on the London stage in the Young Vic’s Olivier Award-winning Bull, has appeared at the venue in Danton’s Death.
The pair will be joined in Churchill’s short play about death (and a ginger cat that needs a home) by NT returnees Susan Engel (Dido, Queen Of Carthage, Her Naked Skin, The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other), Joshua James and Alan Williams (both Light Shining In Buckinghamshire), and Amanda Lawrence (Damned By Despair).
Further casting news comes in the form of Charles Edwards’ Waste co-stars. Alongside previously announced performers including Olivia Williams and William Chubb, the cast will include Christopher Birch (The Bodyguard, West End), Martin Chamberlain (Timon Of Athens, NT), Paul Hickey (Incognito, Bush Theatre), Louis Hilyer (An Inspector Calls, NT) and Ian Gervis (Made In Dagenham, West End). Hubert Burton, Laura Fitzpatrick, Tom Forrister, Fleur Keith, Stephen Rashbrook, Lucy Robinson and Claire Vousden complete the cast.
Alongside casting, dates have been announced for some of the productions opening at the National Theatre in the new year. Katie Mitchell’s production of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed will play from 16 February, Yaël Farber will direct Les Blancs from 22 March, Suhayla El-Bushra’s adaptation of The Suicide runs from 6 April and Brainstorm will return from 29 March to 2 April.