There are a few surprises in the National’s New Season, just announced today.
First off is James Graham’s take on Alan Bleasdale’s hit TV show Boys from the Blackstuff first shown on the BBC in 1982. Following the lives of a group of Liverpudlian working-class men in the Thatcher era, it’s easy to see why Graham, who of course gave us the state-of-the-nation play Dear England, was interested in adapting Bleasdale’s screenplay for the stage. Boys from the Blackstuff opens first in Liverpool before coming to the Oliver in May for a very limited run.
More surprising, however, is The Grapes of Wrath based on the novel by John Steinbeck. Adapted by Frank Galati, the play won a Tony Award in 1990 and was last seen at the National in 1989. It seems an odd choice for a revival, but surely director Carrie Cracknell, best known for her 2012 rendering of A Doll’s House, will make the American classic resonate with British audiences.
Also returning is Complicité’s Mnemonic, directed by Simon McBurney. About a body found in the ice as a woman searches for her father and a man tries to find his lover, Mnemonic will be in the Olivier for most of the summer. As McBurney’s play is about the natural world and our relationship with it, its return seems sensible.
The only new play on the books is The Hot Wing King, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for author Katori Hall in 2020. The comedy, about a group of queer friends cooking up a storm in an annual food competition, comes to the Dorfman in July and runs until the middle of September. It promises to be the sizzle of the summer.
The National is also trialling a new start time for some of its performances. Instead of the traditional 7.30pm start, some show times will be at 6.30pm, enabling non-Londoners to get home at a decent hour and giving Londoners a chance to go for dinner after, rather than before, the show. The 6.30 starts are scheduled for the Tuesday and Thursday performances. It will be interesting to see how audiences adapt to this bold move.
Tickets for all these shows will be on sale from 8 February 2024
